The NHS currently pays back £1.25bn a year. The final payment will not be made until 2048. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images The NHS in England faces a total bill of £65bn for new hospitals built under the private finance initiative, it was reported today, with some trusts facing annual “mortgage” repayments that make up more [...]

Bankers were burned in effigy during the G20 protests in the City of London in 2009, and heads rolled metaphorically everywhere from Northern Rock to Bear Stearns, but capitalism is still flourishing. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian It was supposed to have been the day the world changed. The credit crunch “officially” began on [...]

Investing in wine – if all goes wrong, at least you can drink it. Photograph: Garry Weaser for the Guardian Investments should improve with age. But a Madrid-based fund has beaten stock markets and hedge funds around the world this year by putting its money in the ultimate vintage buy: wine. The March Gestion Vini [...]

David Cameron claims the national citizens service is further evidence of the Conservatives’ commitment to a ‘big society’. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/PA The National Citizen Service (NCS) programme to be rolled out to 10,000 young people next year is, according to David Cameron, further evidence of the Conservatives’ commitment to developing a “big society”. Since becoming [...]