The Wastelands; It's a national scandal. While thousands of people are desperate to find decent homes, thousands of properties are lying empty and boarded up - and not just in the blighted North. How have we come to this, and what can be done about it? David Conn reports

'We received many moving letters from those trapped. They did not prepare us for the desolation that we saw on our visit to the North-West.' Where, instinctively, would you place […]