The protesters seem to have upped their game when it comes to slogans. "We are not the indentured slaves of your oligarchy!" booms a bullhorn, from beneath a banner that seeks redress for the "war profiteering" of "eugenicist thugs".

Without the people's attention to government, government grows fangs; but: "Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."

And then we have Bilderberg. A massive great, sniper-armed, window-tinted, helicoptering slap in the face to any concept of enlightened democracy. Shrouded, misty and removed. A place where "Congress and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors" sit about in secret and do business with bank bosses and the chairmen of corporations, and policemen stand guard lest the citizenry become too informed.

The BBC turned up!

But only in the form of Marcus Agius, the senior non-executive director on the BBC's executive board. He's also chairman of Barclays, and extremely well connected. Here he is, queuing to get on a private jet home.

A study of Bilderberg's rich (in every sense) history chimes with a peculiarly male hunger for sports-facts. Daniel Kirby, 28, is one of the few Brits here, a history student from Chester. Daniel's got the hunger. "If I read something, I have to find the source, to trace things back." As for Bilderberg: "This means looking at the interlocking directorships of the delegates, reading the think tank documents. Have you read 'Which Way to Persia?' from the Brookings Institute?" I confess I haven't. "It's a hugely complex subject, obviously, but let's just say – the road to Tehran goes through Damascus." I mention that Bassma Kodmani, a senior member of the Syrian National Council, is at Bilderberg this year. Daniel gets out his notebook. "I'll have to check that."

This is what I love about Bilderberg. Having conversations that can swerve from the Brookings Institute, to Hegelian dialectics, to Daniel asking me: "Do you know the Olympic torch relay was invented by the Nazis?" This sparks a quick five minute chat about Goebbels, propaganda and Edward Bernays. Once we're on the Nazis it's a short hop and a skip back to Bilderberg.