Hammer, nut, anvil

So let me try and get this straight.  Back in 1989, nearly a hundred football fans who had arrived on time and peaceably taken their places in the Hillsborough football arena were crushed to death by, er, well, according to the latest inquest, various police officers, ambulance men and the officials running the Hillsborough stadium.  I am just a little surprised that the jury was unable to lay part of the blame on 'that woman' who was the prime minister of the day.  However, the crucial point is that absolutely no blame whatsoever can be placed on the thousands of football fans who arrived later and who pushed and shoved quietly and slowly and patiently made their way into the stadium.  They are perfectly blameless and their behaviour at all times was impeccable.

Got that?

Good!

End of!

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

"I am just a little surprised that the jury was unable to lay part of the blame on 'that woman' who was the prime minister of the day."

Not for want of trying.

"MARGARET Thatcher’s precise role, and the views she held, in the immediate aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster remain unclear.

It was believed that the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report last September could shed a great deal of light on her behaviour and comments – and what she was told and advised – in the days, weeks and months following the tragedy."

Published in the Liverpool Echo, on the occasion of her death. "Yeah, so she's dead, but worrabout us? Or the people we pander to?"

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/margaret-thatcher-role-aftermath-hillsborough-3416839

[Antisthenes]

The reports and footage at the time gave me the impression that fans and the pitch fencing caused the deaths. Perhaps the police made the wrong decision to open the gates but as I understand it they had little choice either that or cause a riot. I would speculate that the plans put in place for crowd control was inadequate as what happened was not calculated in. Perhaps understandable as it was the late arrival of the fans that caused the problem. Could that have been anticipated? That I do not know.

[Mike Cunningham]

I have written before, upon my own blogsite as well as on ATW, about the maundering thickly spread sentimentality which covers the obscene larceny which is ‘Scousedom’, the very capital of all that reeks of reminders that ‘everything is someone else’s fault’. But the sheer lunacy of giving these maundering clowns an Inquest, the mind actually boggles.
It was a sad day, for sport, for football, for the clubs; but the truth is singular. Those unfortunate people died because over a thousand drunken Liverpool ‘fans’ attempted to crash a gate to get into the Hillsborough ground because they did not have tickets. True, a panicked Police inspector authorised the gate to be opened because he feared for his own life, but he did not kill the 96,
it was the thuggish actions of those thousand extra people which caused the deaths by asphyxiation and crushing! It wasn’t the lack of planning by the Police, it wasn’t the badly-planned access, policing and layout of the stadium, which was the cause of the deaths, although that bad planning may have been a contributor.

The whole absurd path of the Coroner’s Hillsborough Inquest, and the subsequent verdicts, including the sentence ‘The jury concluded that mistakes by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and South Yorkshire Ambulance Service on the day had “caused or contributed” to the disaster but the fans did not.’ could have been written on the second day of the farrago, thus saving all the Coroner’s time, as well as the vast amounts of cash paid to all the QCs who had settled around the honeypot of cash which had been generated immediately the Government caved and authorised the Inquest after years of pressure from ‘the grieving families’. Grief, possibly; at least for a while: but then the search for ’Justice’ began, and then ‘Accountability’; and then, finally ‘COMPENSATION’. It has always been about the Money, who gets it, how much there will be of it, and when can they spend it!
Scousers; I’ve poured better down the toilet!

[Cuffleyburgers]

Mike, I think as ever there is truth on both sides, and I would suspect the blame should be shared. However the most salient point is how the south yorks fuzz closed ranks and consistently lied to save their arses. In doing so they broke the most cardinal rule in policing which is that the police is the public and the public is the police.

[john malpas]

why were big fences needed for such benign spectators?