With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass that spoke out against inequality, discrimination, war, and climate destruction, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
Help to buy scheme turns out to mean ‘help the rich’

THE National Audit Office (NAO) inspection of the Conservatives’ help to buy scheme this month found more than half of people using the government’s loan scheme could have bought a house without state support.
Help to buy, launched by then Tory chancellor George Osborne in 2013, offers buyers zero-interest loans worth up to 20 per cent of the cost of new-build houses.
The NAO report means that the government’s most expensive scheme to increase house supply, with over 200,000 loans worth £11.7 billion, is not helping those most in need.
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