No one knows for certain if the vandals who desecrated Blackley cemetery would have been stopped if the caretaker sacked a year ago had still been there. But it is not too great a leap to think that they might well have been. At the very least, this latest act of vandalism raises the issue of security at cemeteries. Whether the solution is caretakers, a better link to the police or something more hi-tech, it is clear that the current arrangements are too often far from satisfactory.