So what is the story of our age? I have been reading Dictator, the final book of Robert Harris’s Cicero trilogy. It charts, with the clarity of hindsight, the great issues of the Roman Republic including Julius Caesar’s rise to power. I found myself wondering what will be written about us, about our age?

Will the rise of radical Islam define us; the spawning of a terrorist ideology with no front line? Will the great migrations of wretched humanity be our monument? What about the end of privacy, the acceptance of wrap-around surveillance by a politically supine population?

Or will rapid technological advance relegate our era to a status equivalent to the Stone Age?

For me, at present, it is none of the above. For me it is a dent in the code by which I thought we were privileged to live in the advanced West. It is a dent in democracy.

For when I look around the institutional landscape I am increasingly aware of the predominance of elites: tight-knit cabals at the top, too often running things for their own advantage.

They are everywhere. And too many of them are corrupt, legally, morally or both.

Yesterday’s news brought another example. Officials of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) stand accused of taking bribes to turn a blind eye to athletes guilty of doping. Its recently retired chairman, Lamine Diack, has been arrested, suspected of dishonestly receiving £700,000.

Athletes past and present betrayed: Read Doug Gillon's view  

Also, the World Anti-Doping Agency has called for Russia to be suspended for state-sponsored doping that cast doubt on the credibility of the London Olympics.

This unfolding scandal follows on from the exposure of a corrupt brotherhood at the top of Fifa; and it’s not so long since the scandal in international competitive cycling.

Sport, which should be synonymous with all that is clean-cut and wholesome, is smeared.

It could start a private members club for the disgraced. There are enough potential members.

Take the Roman Catholic Church as another example. While still recovering from its cover-up of paedophile priests, we are beginning to gain more insight into the Vatican’s ruling body, the Curia.

Two new books written by journalists with the aid of leaked documents are causing a stir. One is called Greed, the other Merchants of the Temple. They reveal how, literally, some princes of the church live up to that title. They tell of palatial apartments, of opulent lifestyles, of a Vatican property portfolio worth billions, its houses and apartments rented for peanuts to influential friends.

Those accused of leaking the information have been arrested. Instead, shouldn’t they be awarded papal medals? Pope Francis, a belated force for good, says he wants rid of this corruption. Well, isn’t the glare of sunlight the best sanitiser?

But I’m not just talking about illegal practices by the powerful and privileged. Everywhere there seems to be a pervasive culture of elites enriching themselves with enormous sums of money quite legally. Bankers’ bonuses are but one example. Take a look at the enormous rise in recent years of the salaries of FTSE100 directors if you want another.

It’s a culture that has also crept into the public sector. Ask yourself how (and why?) two Scottish deputy chief constables have been awarded remuneration packages of £737,500 and £632,500 respectively. It is a combination of salary plus around half a million pounds in pension benefits; nice.

Just to put that into perspective, the mid-rate of salary for a constable is £31,341 and for a chief inspector it is £53,358. How can a package of £737,500 to a public servant ever be acceptable?

Thanks to months of digging and thousands of freedom of information requests, the Taxpayers’ Alliance along with a national newspaper has uncovered similar stories in the cash-strapped NHS and in local authorities across the UK. For example, the chief executive of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts reportedly received a salary of £225,000 but her total remuneration package was £1.26 million. When she retires in January it will be with a £335,000 tax-free lump sum. South Tees suffers higher than average deprivation and the trust she runs has financial problems.

Isn’t that scandalous? If only that example was an isolated case. Sadly, it’s not. Too many local authority employees earn six-figure sums while closing libraries and cutting back on carers. I can’t condemn the individuals who receive the income. It takes great strength of character to refuse a massive salary or pension pot if, technically, you are entitled to it. We’d all be tempted to justify it; to convince ourselves we were worth it.

However, I do blame those who make the awards. I have sat on remuneration committees which have said no. It’s one of the jobs of non-executives to keep salaries within the bounds of reason and, thereby, protect the reputation of the institution.

We, the public, already felt betrayed by our elected representatives. Grasping MPs and members of the House of Lords had their exorbitant and sometimes fraudulent expenses claims exposed. We’ve seen too many caught on camera offering their influence for cash. And we look wearily on the Government front bench where sits another elite: public school and Oxford.

All of this amounts to what we could call the bulwarks of our society. It is a disillusioning line-up. I sometimes feel as if I have spent my life blind and deaf. I used to gaze out of taxi windows and start day-dreaming when a driver embarked on that familiar refrain of "they’re all at it".

Not anymore. It is a sorry state of affairs because it damages the fabric of society. It creates divisions and embitters those who have little prospect of entering an elite. And it’s corrosive.

How do we motivate young people to learn well, work hard and strive to play their part in society when they are aware of this unfair parallel universe. Which of them will spend hours, days, months and years training to be the country’s fastest runner or highest jumper if they think a drug cheat will get away with besting them? Why try if your record can be negated by corrupt officials on the take?

Who will go to church to donate their weekly stipend if they know it is destined to keep a portly prelate in palatial splendour?

How can any community accept cutbacks in basic services when they suspect their council chiefs might be enjoying a pre-austerity lifestyle?

The man in the street has been feeling disconnected and disenfranchised for too long. I think it explains the groundswell of grassroots support for Jeremy Corbyn as well as the rise of Ukip: ordinary people seeking expression through political outsiders. I also think it (in part) explains Scotland’s mass conversion to the SNP.

The Western world’s elites have grown too strong and too self-serving. People power – democracy – is the only force with sufficient reforming power. If the corruption of elites is the story of our age, as I think it is, then challenging vested interests as a matter of urgency has to be our response.