It's not just City boys who need to give more

Yet, though I'm quick to condemn a lack of largesse among these overpaid titans, a personal charity audit shows my own generosity to be pretty much absent. I'm not alone. Many middle-class Brits have an attitude problem with giving. I may be lavishing friends and family with gifts this month, fuelled by a seasonal sense of guilt that I earn disproportionately more than my loved ones. But handing over a chunk of my income, or worse, time, to good causes makes me come over all Scrooge-like.

Why is this? I consider myself more than averagely generous. Yet I step over beggars in the street, convinced they'll spend my money on drugs, and pathologically avoid eye contact with "chuggers" - the professional charity workers out collecting in their droves this Christmas. My tax is paid, I tell myself, and this has become my justification for a lack of contribution elsewhere.

So I won't sign up to Amnesty in the street, or pledge cash to Oxfam when those little envelopes fall out of my weekend papers. In fact, I hate the emotional blackmail that accompanies them. And I rarely sponsor anyone for completing the most impressive endurance test these days. There's no question, I've got full-blown "chafigue" - charity fatigue.

But it's not just that. I actually resent the notion that my precious spare time should be spent helping others, despite research which shows how much happier volunteers are than those who shun unpaid work. And I cling to the studentish argument that it's the job of government to look after society's most needy - when there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate the lie in that theory. Comic Relief and Children in Need don't just leave me cold, they make my toes curl with distaste.

There is no financial justification for my uncharitable penny-pinching. Like so many busy Londoners I readily set up direct debits for gym memberships I barely use and think nothing of handing over bundles of cash for unnecessary facials, taxis and lunches.

So what do I give back to society? Bit by bit I've turned into one of those people who give back nothing at all. At this time of year, when for once the emphasis is on others, that's not a good feeling.

If you're tempted, like me, to tut about whether others give enough, think again. I've decided to find a cause that moves me and scrape together the money - or the time - to do something about it. Charity begins at home: not just in the City.