Real World says that with a starting salary of £25,000, the job offers attractive shift patterns and on-site gyms. Only about 4 per cent of firefighters are female, but apparently that is because many women don’t realise that they can join.

HM Prison Service also appears to be selling itself well. People Management (Nov 9) says that new staff show high levels of satisfaction. Sadly, though, the initial enthusiasm fades and after a year has all but disappeared. That, says the Home Office, makes retention of staff a problem.

The Prison Service also has difficulty recruiting staff from ethnic minorities, as does the police force. Police Review (Nov 10) says that efforts to make police work more attractive to Muslims have been damaged over the past decade, to the extent that some Muslim recruits are seen by their communities as traitors. A Muslim police staff member says: “Yes, I do feel caught between a community I am part of and a job I love doing. We are seen as enemies by some in the community, while being seen as an enemy within by some in mainstream society.”

Market forces are conspiring to make teaching — of some subjects, at least — more attractive, says The Times Educational Supplement (Nov 10). The heads of maths and science departments in some “hard-to-fill” London schools typically earn £9,000 a year more than colleagues outside the capital.

But it seems that not all areas of the public sector are marketing themselves well. And when the person left unimpressed is the Prime Minister, the consequences may be grave. Local Government Chronicle (Nov 9) says that planners were left baffled by “an onslaught” from Tony Blair. The PM told business leaders that the planning system was outdated and “hopelessly bureaucratic”. The Planning Officers Society is unimpressed. It says that a major reform of the planning system implemented by Mr Blair “needs time to bed down”.

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