I find some of these points of view rather simplistic, lacking in breadth of view and very self serving.
Allow me to set the record straight in as far as my personal circumstances have been mentioned by another in this Forum.
I have a local government pension and, after Saturday, a State Pension. While working I paid a high rate of tax on all I earned because it is public knowledge what I earned. I was prohibited from taking other employment or earnings. When I gave a lecture, wrote an article or was paid any kind of fee all of it had to be declared and paid over to my employer. I was not allowed any form of gift, no matter how paltry.
One year of my employment all senior public officers like me had no annual increment by Government decree, this has a knock on effect on my pension.
I had no form of privilege whatsoever, unlike my neighbours and friends in the private sector who enjoyed larger annual increases than me, ran their and their wife's car on the firm, had bonuses and Christmas gifts. Some even had holidays paid for.
In common with all public servants living abroad, my income must be taxed in the UK at a higher rate than I would otherwise pay within the French system.
All my working life as a public servant I was in close contact with the private sector, I was astonished and disgusted by much of what I saw going on. Some of the "extras" of which I was aware were obscene. I accept that was at a senior level in the private sector and did not, I am confident, filter down to everyone.
I worked very hard, I worked excessive hours and I ended up with a double heart bypass caused by stress and fatigue. Much of the latter being caused by being asked to take over and sort out a government department in which vast fraud had been committed in conjunction with the private sector, it included suicide and long prison sentences after I had spent three years of my life "sorting it out".
I was head hunted by a major public company in the UK but declined because I was imbued with the public service ethic and so, at my own choice, did what I wanted. I never once asked for a pay rise but achieved them by winning promotion in open competition or as a result of higher qualifications.
There were many like me but, of course, not all.
So, please do not make general, sweeping remarks about all public servants from your inadequate knowledge and baseless prejudice. But if you must, do not include or refer to me (even with an apology!).
A very annoyed and saddened,
Roger in France.