Here is a career choice. Job one is in an affluent suburb, based in fine modern facilities. You will be dealing with the public, but their problems are usually quite minor and we have a great team of staff. Job two is in an impoverished inner city. The building was condemned in the 1970s but we have not found the money to knock it down yet – and, oh yes, there have been quite a few assaults on employees. Both jobs pay the same. Which one do you want?

The answer Britain’s nurses, teachers and police officers give to this question is not surprising. Working conditions are tougher in some public sector jobs than others – nurses in deprived areas, for example, have to treat populations that suffer more chronic diseases – but they are paid no more than colleagues who work in market towns and leafy suburbs.