Reply With QuoteVery moving hearing the individual stories of those involved. As well as the suffering of some of the ordinary bobbies caught up in the horrors on the day.Originally Posted by JKB
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Very moving and sad. Unbelievable suffering of those poor families and survivors. South Yorkshire Police and the establishment cover up was shocking. Justice for the 96.
Very moving hearing the individual stories of those involved. As well as the suffering of some of the ordinary bobbies caught up in the horrors on the day.
When you boil it all down, it's absurd that the whole disgraceful episode was manufactured to keep a few inept Police Chiefs in their jobs and weighty pensions.
The tentacles of this travesty then extended everywhere, including the media, the justice system and the highest levels of Government.
Corruption and greed at the expense of hundreds, possibly thousands of lives laid bare right in front of us all.
Spot on analysis. There has to be accountability and those senior police officers brought to book. Perhaps then there can be closure for the families and survivors.
I agree with all your sentiments but I have very little faith in there bring any real accountability. They, the CPS may go after a token copper, but with Thatcher's parliamentary secretary sticking up two fingers at the families and McKenzie just laughing it off, the perpetrators will not be brought to account.Justice for the 96.
Finally got around to watching the programme yesterday afternoon and thought it was a very powerful piece of television which really brought home to me a couple of factors which I should have been more aware of before.
1. Just how much space there was in the two pens on the sides of the Leppings Lane terrace.
2. Why on earth was the terrace divided up into four pens in the first place? Common sense tells you that opposing fans would never have been allocated areas on the same terrace and, from memory, fans from either team were allocated different areas of the ground even back in the "prehistoric" 80s, so why were those fences running down the terrace from top to bottom ever erected in the first place - especially after what happened in the Spurs v Wolves Semi Final in 1981?
Agreed.
To me, the fact that they were called "pens" highlights the attitude of the time that football fans were treated like animals.
A catalogue of events that led to the tragedy. However having Duckenfield in charge on the day was the major contributing factor and then to perpetrate and continue the lie for over 26 years is unforgivable. All whilst enjoying the benefits of his considerable police pension. The following police and establishment cover up destroyed many more lives.
I think that South Yorkshire police were "helped out" by Thacher as a reward for their "handling" of the miners strike
As far as I remember the late/former Tory MP for Sheffield Hallam (the last Tory in Sheffield), Sir Irvine Patnick, was the conduit from South Yorkshire Police to No 10, and also to the Sun. I believe Thatcher's press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham was in the middle of it too, helping to plant and perpetuate the lies and cover up. He won't apologise for his disgraceful public comments even now after the inquest.
After the miners strike where the police were used as political paramilitaries by the government, and where 'the enemy within' and those 'not one of us' covered football fans in general and anyone from Liverpool in particular (after years of Militant administration) there was a clear government instinct to protect the police and deflect blame for the tragedy.
I could be wrong, but I think the idea of the pens was to make it easier to control them. Any trouble would be localised.
The obvious question is 'who would they cause trouble with' and I can't answer that one.
Hopefully Andy Burnham's proposals will get cross party support, so that individuals fighting for justice like the 96, will get financial help to proceed through the courts and officials indicted, can still be prosecuted however long they've retired!
The FA and Graham Kelly should be investigated as to why they allowed the game to go ahead at a stadium which didn't have a valid safety certificate.
I've always wondered what would have happened if the kick off had been delayed.
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