Britain's public wealth and health are up for sale again

Covid deficits are forcing councils into selling land to developers - and now US money is finding its way into the NHS

Britain has an endless supply of family silver to sell. Unlike some earls and duchesses, who find they are down to their last Rubens and must sell the estate to make ends meet, the creative folk in Whitehall never run out of options.

Local authority land provides an inexhaustible supply of assets, and it has never been more available than now, as the pandemic careers through council finances like an out-of-control double-decker bus.

There is always more, if you know where to look. It's the same when ministers look around for less tangible things to sell - such as contracts that tie Britain's taxpayers to commercial agreements for decades