Church vandalism

Back in the day it was a time-honoured practice for thieves to rip up the lead skinning of church roofs and sell it to the metal merchants. A fairly despicable practice, but one we had become used to.

The new variation seems to be to rip out stained glass windows for the lead, breaking a pane and inserting a long handled pole with a hook on the end . Much easier and far less dangerous as it can be done with a short ladder and with a little practice the whole window can be yanked out. Only the lead cames are of interest, and the glass is left on the floor. The fact that artwork hundreds of years old is being destroyed is of no consequence.

Today's blip shows an attempt that was foiled, the delinquents being interrupted. That was bad enough - what is worse is that the church, which is now a mosque, is not replacing the glass but simply putting acrylic sheets in, cut to fit the pointed arches. Sign of the times.

[Longsight, Manchester]