Throughout a memorable day at Liverpool's Anglican cathedral for the families of the ninety six people who lost their lives so utterly needlessly at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough football ground in 1989, one phrase dominated above all else: 'the truth.' These were the words most infamously abused by
that sour and disgraceful headline in the
Sun, above a series of stories which we now know, in extraordinarily shocking detail, were lies, fed to an arse-licking journalist - and his scumbag editor - by the South Yorkshire police (via a local MP who was, seemingly, complicit in their mendacity). All to deflect their own culpability and incompetence at the disaster coming to light and, instead, passing the blame on to the innocent victims themselves. And, if the sheer disgusting disgracefulness of
that doesn't make you sick to the pit of your stomach, dear blog reader, there was plenty more in the three hundred and ninety five page report to do the trick. The panel, constituted in 2009 on the initiative of the then Labour ministers Andy Burnham and Maria Eagle (both MPs with Merseyside connections), found one hundred and sixteen of one hundred and sixty four statements supplied by South Yorkshire Police in response to the disaster were subsequently changed to 'remove or alter comments directly unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police.' In the days after the disaster, a narrative took hold that drunken Liverpool fans had caused the situation by forcing a gate open. Allegations were printed in national newspapers that Liverpool fans had pick-pocketed the dead and hampered rescue attempts, most notably -
although by no means uniquely - in an infamous
Sun front page, headlined
The Truth, which led to a boycott of the paper on Merseyside that (rightly) continues to this day.
The
Sun editor at the time, odious bucket-of-slime Kelvin MacKenzie, on Wednesday offered 'profuse apologies' for the first time in twenty three years despite having numerous previous opportunities to do so. The day that the
Sun allegations were published - Tuesday 19 April 1989, four days after the tragedy - the report describes an extraordinary meeting of the South Yorkshire Police Federation in the Pickwick restaurant in Sheffield. At the meeting, the chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, Peter Wright, who died last year, said that officers should not talk to the media and should 'prepare a rock solid story.' He said the force needed to 'take control' of the narrative presented to the inquiry and that 'if anybody should be blamed, it should be the drunken, ticketless individuals.' 'When you get the chief constable sitting down with his trade union to cobble together a solid story, then you know we've reached a new depth of depravity,' said Trevor Hicks, who lost two daughters, Sarah and Victoria, at Hillsborough and is president of the Hillsborough Family Support Group. 'There were two disasters at Hillsborough. The one on the day and the one afterwards. It was not only a disaster, it was a contrived, manipulated, vengeful and spiteful attempt to shift the blame.' A fresh inquest into the disaster is likely to be ordered after the full scale of the establishment cover-up over the disaster was revealed for the first time. Criminal prosecutions of key figures are also possible after the Hillsborough Independent Panel – which was chaired by the bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, and had unrestricted access to four hundred and fifty thousand documents over three years – revealed the depth of a police cover-up which swung into action within hours of the tragedy happening. It confirmed Lord Justice Taylor's key finding after his initial inquiry in August 1989 that the main reason for the disaster was 'a failure in police control.' But it also revealed that 'multiple failures' in other emergency services and public bodies also contributed to the death toll. Similarly, serious failings in the inquests and reviews which followed prolonged the agony of the families of the victims.
Legal representatives for the families of the ninety six victims crushed to death at the Leppings Lane end of the ground said that South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield city council and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club could all face charges for corporate manslaughter. The Hillsborough Panel found the safety of fans admitted to the terrace at Leppings Lane was 'compromised at every level.' From the condition of the turnstiles to the management of the crowd, alterations to the terrace, the construction of the 'pens' into which fans were herded, like cattle, the placement of the crush barriers and the access to the fateful central pens via an entrance tunnel with a one in six gradient. The deficiencies were 'well known' and made the crush 'foreseeable.' yet nothing was done to prevent it. According to documents disclosed to the inquiry, there was a serious crush on the terrace at the 1981 FA Cup semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers in which 'many people were injured and fatalities narrowly avoided.' New documents show following that incident there was a breakdown in the relationship between Sheffield Wednesday and South Yorkshire Police, which considered the capacity of the terrace too high at ten thousand one hundred. The ground was not used for semi finals again until 1987, by which time there had been various moderations and alterations – none of which led to revised safety certificates being issues. Indeed, as any football fan who attended the ground will know - like this blogger when his beloved Newcastle visited Hillsborough in November 1983 and visiting fans were, as usual, housed in the Leppings Lane end - with hindsight this was tragedy which was simply waiting to happen. And, if it hadn't happened at Hillsborough it would probably have happened somewhere else. Recommendations to feed the pens from designated turnstiles, enabling the club to monitor the number of fans in each one, were ignored because it would have 'cost too much.' 'It is evident from the disclosed documents that South Yorkshire Police were preoccupied with crowd management [but] Sheffield Wednesday's primary concern was to limit costs,' the report noted. The issue of congested access to the turnstiles remained unresolved, with over twenty four thousand fans entering through twenty three turnstiles at Leppings Lane. The panel found that key issues were not 'discussed or recorded' at annual safety inspections. There was a delayed kick-off at the 1987 FA Cup semi-final and also crushing at the 1988 semi-final (also between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest). A concerned fan even wrote to the Football Association after the 1988 semi-final to highlight the problem which he had seen first hand. His letter was, seemingly, ignored. The debriefings from both 1987 and 1988 were described as 'inadequate.' 'From the earliest safety assessments made by safety engineers commissioned in 1978 by Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, it was apparent that the stadium failed to meet minimum standards under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975,' the report stated. 'Recommendations to feed fans directly from designated turnstiles into each pen, thus monitoring precisely the distribution of fans between the pens, were not acted on because of anticipated costs to SWFC. The fire service raised concerns about provision for emergency evacuation of the terraces. As the only means of escaping forwards was onto the pitch, concern was raised specifically about the width of the perimeter fence gates which was well below the standard recommended by The Green Guide. The gradient of the tunnel under the West Stand leading down onto the terrace also significantly breached the Green Guide's recommendation. While modifications were made inside the stadium, the issue of congested access to the turnstiles outside the stadium remained unresolved. Following alterations, the safety of the existing maximum capacity for the Leppings Lane terrace was questioned, repeatedly, yet the decision was taken by the Club and the safety engineers not to revise the figure.' The decision to replace an experienced match commander, chief superintendent Brian Mole, with one who had minimal experience of Hillsborough, chief superintendent David Duckenfield, on the day of the tragedy remains, to this day, unexplained. But the panel found that 'flaws in responding to the emerging crisis on the day were rooted in institutional tension within and between organisations.' There was inadequate communication and senior officers' decision making was hampered by a malfunctioning radio system and the design of the control box. The management roles and responsibilities of the police were 'unclear' and the prevailing mindset 'prioritised crowd control over crowd safety.'
Which was, simply, how it was in those days up and down the country. The police appeared to regard all football supporters as scum to be contained and, where possible made to suffer the maximum discomfort and inconvenience. Again, every single football supporter in their country will have a story or two about a 'near-Hillsborough' which they witnessed or were in the middle of (this blogger's own include a trip to, of all places, Barnsley - note, the
same South Yorkshire Police force - in 1982 and another, even more scary, trip to Tottenham for an FA Cup tie in 1987 which is notorious among Newcastle fans for the disgusting treatment dished out to them by the forces of law and order). Duckenfield acceded to a request for Hillsborough's exit gate C to be opened to 'relieve pressure' outside the ground but failed to anticipate the impact on the already-packed central pen of fans descending the tunnel directly opposite. There was no instruction given to manage the flow or the direction of the incoming crowd. 'From the documents provided to the panel it is clear the crush at the Leppings Lane turnstiles outside the stadium was not caused by fans arriving "late" for the kick-off,' the report concluded, destroying one, long held, myth about the tragedy. Unlike previous years, fans were not filtered or checked on their approach to the ground. South Yorkshire Police said the distribution of fans between the pens was based on 'an informal practice' which allowed fans to 'find their own level.' Information relating to a crush at the previous year's semi-final was deleted from officers' statements and information showing that they had controlled access to the tunnel once central pens were full was also deleted from some statements. 'Senior South Yorkshire Police officers denied knowledge of tunnel closures at previous semi-finals. Yet South Yorkshire Police officers responsible for closing the tunnel in 1988 claimed they had acted, on that occasion, "under instructions" from senior officers,' it said. For a prolonged period, the number of casualties and their serious nature overwhelmed those involved in the initial rescue. The panel found the emergency response to the disaster had not previously been fully examined because of the (wrongful) assumption that the outcome for those who died was irretrievably fixed long before they could have helped. Disclosed documents show senior officers interpreted crowd unrest in the Leppings Lane end as a sign of 'potential disorder' and were slow to recognise that spectators were being 'crushed, injured and killed.' Ambulance service officers were even slower than police to realise the severity of the crush, despite being close to the central pens. Neither fully activated the major incident procedure. Disclosed documents show 'clear and repeated evidence of failures in leadership and emergency response co-ordination.' There was a lack of basic equipment and no
triage. Statements and ambulance transcripts reveal opportunities to exercise control were missed for almost an hour. The stadium's gymnasium was used as a temporary mortuary for unexplained reasons and intrusive questioning about the social and drinking habits of the deceased was perceived as being 'insensitive and irrelevant.' The evidence from pathologists led the coroner, Doctor Stefan Popper, to impose a cut off time of 3.15pm for his inquest – based on the assumption that all of those who died were already critically injured or brain dead by then. But the panel found that idea was 'unsustainable.' The panel found there was 'clear evidence' that twenty eight of those who died did not have traumatic
asphyxia and it may have taken longer to be fatal. There was separate evidence that the heart and lungs of thirty one victims had continued to function after the crush and that was for a prolonged period in sixteen of the cases. Some of the dead featured in both groups, but in all forty one victims fell into one or both category. Finally, despite the coroner ordering blood alcohol levels to be taken from all the deceased - including all of the children, some as young as
ten - there was 'no evidence to support the proposition that alcohol played
any part in the genesis of the disaster and it is regrettable that those in positions of responsibility created and promoted a portrayal of drunkness as contributing to the disaster.' Throughout multiple investigations including the 1989 Taylor inquiry, the coroner's inquiry and inquest and a criminal inquiry led by West Midlands Police, the panel said it was 'evident' that South Yorkshire Police sought to establish a case emphasising 'exceptional levels of drunkenness and aggression' among Liverpool fans, alleging many had arrived at the stadium late, without tickets and determined to force entry to the ground.
The panel found that the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher was 'very likely' given this version of events when she arrived in Liverpool on the Sunday after the disaster, though it found no evidence that she had, specifically, 'colluded' with them. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, South Yorkshire Police prioritised an internal investigation and the collection of handwritten statements in which officers should consider themselves 'the accused.' Following the publication of the Taylor report, which laid the blame at the door of the police and exonerated the fans, the prime minister was briefed by her private secretary that the 'defensive – at times close to
deceitful – behaviour by the senior officers in South Yorkshire sounds depressingly familiar.' In Cabinet papers, however, Thatcher was said to have expressed her 'concern' that the 'broad thrust' of Taylor's report constituted 'a devastating criticism of the police' and told the Home Secretary that the government should not 'welcome' its findings. Douglas Hurd's comments after the publication of the report were, as a consequence, changed. It emerged in 1997 that senior South Yorkshire Police officers had subjected the statements of junior officers on duty at Hillsborough to a process of 'review and alteration.' The police themselves claimed that it was done to 'remove conjecture and opinion' from the junior officers' statements, leaving only 'matters of fact.' However, the panel found that the statements were actually changed, by senior South Yorkshire Police officers working with the force's solicitor, to alter, delete or qualify any comments made by officers which were likely to be 'unhelpful to the force's case.' Of one hundred and sixty four statements substantially amended, the panel found one hundred and sixteen were to 'remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police.' Allegations of drunkenness by supporters were emphasised, criticism of the police's own operation or of senior officers was changed or deleted. The panel also found that statements from the South Yorkshire Metropolitan ambulance service were also altered. 'In a number of cases they deflected criticisms and emphasised the efficiency of the SYMAS response.' Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, then eighteen, died at what should have been a joyful day out, an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in spring sunshine, said that the families had been forced to fight, for twenty three years, for the truth. Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said that although the families' loss would 'never fade', she was 'delighted' at the unequivocal, 'profound' apology given for Hillsborough's savage failings by David Cameron. The panel, chaired by the bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, had inspected four hundred and fifty thousand documents generated by the police, Sheffield Wednesday and all other bodies responsible, and delivered its remarkable three hundred and ninety five-page report indicting official failings and vindicating the victims and football supporters. Some of what happened to cause the disaster, and the police's subsequent blame-shifting, had already been exposed over these long decades. But the sheer depth of what the families call 'a cover-up', in particular the deliberate, relentless South Yorkshire Police campaign to avoid its own responsibilities and craft the false case against the supporters, was still startling to all who heard it. In a concerted campaign begun even as the dead were still lying in a temporary mortuary in Hillsborough's gymnasium – led, the panel found, by the chief constable, Peter Wright – the South Yorkshire Police marshalled their story that drunken supporters or those without tickets had caused the disaster. The victims, most younger than thirty, many of them teenagers, the youngest aged just ten, had their blood tested for alcohol levels. This was 'an exceptional decision,' the panel said, for which it found 'no rationale.' One of the new revelations from this extraordinary process, in which all the organisations released to the panel their internal documents relating to Hillsborough, was that where victims had no alcohol in their blood, the police then checked to find out if any had criminal records. The report, substantially authored by professor Phil Scraton of Queen's University, Belfast, and unanimously agreed by the panel of eight experts, found there was 'no evidence to verify the serious allegations of exceptional levels of drunkenness, ticketlessness or violence among Liverpool fans.' The report found that even as the family members, many of them parents stricken with the loss of their children, were plunged into the most dreadful of nightmares, Wright was meeting his police federation in a Sheffield restaurant to prepare 'a defence' and 'a rock-solid story.' The secretary of the South Yorkshire Police federation branch, constable Paul Middup, according to the minutes cited by the panel, told the restaurant meeting before Wright turned up: 'The chief constable had said the truth could not come from him, but had given the secretary a totally free hand and supported him,' as had many senior officers. The meeting, at the Pickwick restaurant in Sheffield, was held on the morning of 19 April 1989, just four days after the disaster.
It was the day that Kelvin MacKenzie's
Sun newspaper splashed its headline
The Truth over a whole series of lies fed to it, via White's Press agency, by, the panel found, four senior South Yorkshire police officers and a local MP. Middup was encouraged to continue this police campaign of defaming Liverpool supporters for supposed drunkenness and misbehaviour and 'to get the message – togetherness – across to the force.' The panel's report sustained the allegation made in parliament – by the Labour Merseyside MP Maria Eagle – that the orchestrated changing of junior officers' statements by senior South Yorkshire police officers amounted to a 'black propaganda unit.' The officers' statements, presented as official police accounts to the subsequent inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor, were changed to delete criticism of the police themselves on the day, and, largely, emphasise misbehaviour by supporters. The panel found that the operation went as deep and extensive, statements being amended 'to remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police.' The police had claimed this was done only to remove 'conjecture' and 'opinion' from the statements, but the panel had no doubt the operation, to craft a case rather than deliver truthful police accounts, went further. 'It was done to remove criticism of the police,' Scraton said. This propaganda did not convince Taylor. He ruled as quickly as August 1989 that the police stories of fan drunkenness and misbehaviour were entirely false, and criticised the police for advancing such claims. Taylor exposed that Sheffield Wednesday's football ground was unsafe in crucial respects, that the Football Association had selected it as the venue for its prestigious match without even checking if Hillsborough had a valid safety certificate, which it did not. In that landscape of neglect, it was the mismanagement of the crowd by South Yorkshire Police, commanded by an inexperienced Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, which was 'the prime cause' of the disaster. The police lost control outside the ground, where twenty four thousand Liverpool fans had to be funnelled through just twenty three turnstiles, so Duckenfield ordered a large exit gate to be opened and a large number of people to be allowed in. His 'blunder of the first magnitude,' according to Taylor, was the failure to close off the tunnel which led to the already overcrowded central 'pens' of the Leppings Lane terrace. That much was already established by Taylor, yet the police, undaunted, brazenly repeated their claims to the subsequent inquest and were allowed to get away with it. Its procedure was marked by the coroner's decision not to take evidence of what happened after 3.15pm on the day of the disaster, thereby excluding an emergency response the panel found to have been chaotic. The finding that forty one of the ninety six who died could possibly have been saved had the police and ambulance service done their jobs decently is damning of those bodies and, Aspinall said, difficult for the families to contemplate.
The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, is now, in the light of the panel's report, to consider whether to make an application to the high court for the inquest verdict of accidental death to be quashed and a new inquest held. There may be prosecutions too, after all these years, of Sheffield Wednesday, South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield city council, which failed in its duty to oversee safety of the football ground. The damning report also, for the first time, identifies Tory MP, Irvine Patnick, and high-ranking South Yorkshire police officers, as the - previously nameless - 'sources' for the allegations that led to the
Sun's notorious front page. The April 1989 splash claimed in three sub-headlines that: 'Some fans picked pockets of victims; Some fans urinated on the brave cops; Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life.' Other papers carried the story but qualified it by saying there were 'reports' that fans had been abusive or that these were 'claims' made by police officers rather than, as the odious louse MacKenzie did, stating they were 'the truth.' Documents released to the Hillsborough independent panel showed that the South Yorkshire Police federation and Patnick, the then MP for Sheffield Hallam, were responsible for passing false allegations to White's Press Agency in Sheffield which led, indirectly, to the
Sun story (the story had been first picked up, a day earlier, by the
Evening Standard. The
Scum Express and the
Scum Mail also carried versions of it. In the past MacKenzie has merely said that 'a Tory MP' had made the allegations, protesting that his only 'mistake was I believed what an MP said.' The prime minister told parliament that the families 'were right' to have 'long believed that some of the authorities attempted to create a completely unjust account of events that sought to blame the fans for what happened.' In an opening address on the report, Cameron said: 'Several newspapers reported false allegations that fans were drunk and violent and stole from the dead. The
Sun's report sensationalised these allegations under a banner headline
The Truth. This was clearly wrong and caused
huge offence, distress and hurt.' Cameron revealed that News International had 'co-operated' with the Hillsborough panel. 'For the first time, today's report reveals that the source for these despicable untruths was a Sheffield news agency reporting conversations with South Yorkshire police and Irvine Patnick, the then MP for Sheffield Hallam,' said Cameron. During questions about MacKenzie's legacy in relation to Hillsborough, Cameron said he 'hopes [MacKenzie] stands up to his responsibilities.' Asked by Labour MP Chris Bryant whether the
Sun should apologise, Cameron said he understood that the paper had done so in the past. However he added what the paper had written was 'appalling' and 'my view is that Kelvin MacKenzie needs to take responsibility for that.' He added: 'Now is the time for proper heartfelt apologies, not only "I'm sorry" but "here's what went wrong."' The current editor of the
Sun, Dominic Mohan, said on Wednesday that the paper was 'deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry' for publishing 'an inaccurate and offensive story' and would be 'reflect our deep sense of shame' in Thursday's edition- with its headline
The Real Truth. Which, to be fair to them, they did. In July 2004, the
Sun said it was 'truly sorry' and that its false allegations were 'the most terrible mistake in its history.' Less than a year later, in February 2005, the
Sun's managing editor Graham Dudman, admitted in a BBC documentary that the Hillsborough coverage was 'the worst mistake in our history.' However a year later, old wounds were re-opened after the odious MacKenzie was quoted as saying at a private business lunch with a Newcastle law firm:
'All I did wrong was tell the truth. I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now because we told the truth.' Or, not. Boris Johnson, meanwhile, has apologised for an article in the
Spectator magazine in 2004 when he was editor which also claimed that drunken fans were 'partly responsible' for the Hillsborough tragedy. Johnson, who at the time held down the job of editor at the political magazine while also serving as a shadow minister for the arts and vice-chairman of the Conservative party, ran an editorial following the death of Kenneth Bigley, an engineer from Liverpool who was killed in Iraq after being held hostage, which referred to Hillsborough. In an article that accused Liverpudlians of 'wallowing in their victim status,' the editorial stated: 'The deaths of more than fifty Liverpool football supporters at Hillsborough in 1989 was undeniably a greater tragedy than the single death, however horrible, of Mr Bigley; but that is no excuse for Liverpool's failure to acknowledge, even to this day, the part played in the disaster by drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground that Saturday afternoon.' Johnson said on Thursday that he was 'very, very sorry' for the comments. The London mayor - and hairdo - said: 'I'm very glad that this report does lay to rest the false allegation that was made at the time about the behaviour of those fans. I was very, very sorry in 2004 that the
Spectator did carry an editorial that partially repeated those allegations, I apologised then and I apologise now. I do hope the families of the ninety six victims will take some comfort from this report and that they can reach some sort of closure.' Eight years ago, the then MP for Henley-on-Thames was forced to apologise and received a 'kick up the pants' from the then Conservative leader Michael Howard over his comments and was subsequently dispatched to Liverpool to mend bridges. The columnist Simon Heffer recently revealed that he, at Johnson's request, had drafted the article. He wrote: 'Michael Howard, who was then Tory leader, fired him shortly afterwards following a row over a leading article in the
Spectator magazine, which Mr Johnson was editing in his "spare" time as a shadow minister. It attacked the culture of sentimentality in Liverpool, which had just announced a two-minute silence because of the murder by militants in Iraq of a local man held hostage there. I know a bit about this episode, because I wrote the first draft of the article, at Mr Johnson's request. When I heard the piece (which described Liverpool "wallowing in victim status") had created a furore in the city and that Mr Johnson was in trouble with Michael Howard, I offered to ring the then Tory leader and admit responsibility. Mr Johnson, most creditably I thought, refused to let me do this, saying he was the editor of the magazine, and it was his duty to deal with the matter. Perhaps, though, this response was because he felt he was untouchable, for his penitent tour of Liverpool earned him more admirers. Then he went on to become mayor of London, and now has the apparently legitimate ambition to be Tory leader and prime minister.'
Trevor Hicks, both of whose teenage daughters, Sarah and Victoria, died in the Leppings Lane crush, said the Hillsborough victims families will pursue all legal redress: 'The truth is out today,' Hicks said. 'Tomorrow is for justice.' Margaret Aspinall said she felt a 'profound sense of outrage and injustice' at the campaign she and other families have been forced to fight, especially as the 'real truth' was known to authorities all along. 'What the families have been put through for twenty three years was a disgrace, to put the families through this much pain.' She complained that while the families had to find the money to pay their own costs through years of legal processes, the South Yorkshire Police, individual officers and other public bodies had theirs paid by the taxpayer. 'Yet,' she said, 'they were liars and we were the truthful ones.' Bishop Jones, sitting calmly in the cathedral from which he performs his duties to the diocese of Liverpool, said that as a pastor he was 'committed to a just and fair world.' He added: 'That goes to the heart of our work as a panel: we are looking for truth, and justice.' And there was that word again. After so many years, so much pain, so long and terrible a battle waged by families who would not give up for their loved ones, it has been finally reclaimed.
The truth.
Ex-Home Secretary Jack Straw has said Margaret Thatcher's government created a 'culture of impunity' in the police which led to the Hillsborough cover-up. An independent report accused the South Yorkshire Police of deflecting blame for the disaster on to innocent fans. But Labour's Mr Straw said the then Conservative government was complicit because they needed 'partisan' support from the police. Straw said that it was 'a matter of great regret' to him that Labour had not ensured that the disaster had been investigated thoroughly enough earlier in its time in office, between 1997 and 2010. But he also told BBC Radio 4's
Today programme: 'The Thatcher government, because they needed the police to be a partisan force, particularly for the miners strike and other industrial troubles, created a culture of impunity in the police service. They really were immune from outside influences and they thought they could rule the roost and that is what we absolutely saw in south Yorkshire.'
David Mellor, the former Conservative cabinet minister, said Straw's remarks were disappointing. 'I'm astonished that he should divert attention away from what we should really be talking about today, which is how we bring to book those police officers who perverted the course of justice by altering the statements of their colleagues,' he said. 'I was a Home Office minister for five years in the 1980s, I took through Parliament the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, the first time tape recorders and microphones were introduced in police stations to ensure that the police could not fit up defendants by inventing confessions. Our conscience is very clear on the police.' Labour shadow cabinet member Andy Burnham, who commissioned the Hillsborough report in the first place, praised the prime minister's statement in the Commons on Wednesday, and said he did not want to make political points. Asked about Straw's comments, he said that 'everyone has questions to answer, ourselves included. The welfare, safety, of ordinary people was cast aside as some very heavy-handed approaches to policing were adopted.' he told the BBC. 'Everyone needs to have an open discussion about how this culture of negligence, the sheer mendacity of the police force in pursuing the victims and survivors of that tragedy, how on earth as a society we ever let that to happen.'
Meanwhile, there's
a very interesting piece by the
Gruniad's Roy Greenslade on why the
Mirra didn't run a similar story to the
Sun in 1989: 'Three days after the tragedy, the
Mirror had three reporters in Liverpool - the vastly experienced Syd Young (now retired), plus Christian Gysin (now with the
Daily Mail) and Gordon Hay (now running a media consultancy in Scotland). The London newsdesk called to alert them to copy that had been filed by Whites news agency in Sheffield that afternoon. It made serious allegations against the Liverpool fans, claiming they had been drunk, had pick-pocketed victims and had urinated on policemen. The trio were told by the newsdesk briefer that he had previously called the paper's two reporters in Sheffield - the late Ted Oliver and Frank Thorne (now freelancing in Australia) - with the same information. They had looked into it and rejected it as untrue. They told the desk they could not stand up the allegations so they would not be filing. Oliver actually said that if such a story appeared under his byline he would resign. So Young, Gysin and Hay made calls too and couldn't find any supporting evidence for the allegations. Indeed, all the indications they were getting suggested "the Yorkshire cops were trying to divert attention away from their own failings."' Three national dailies, meanwhile, failed to lead on Thursday with the Hillsborough report - the
Financial Times, the
Daily Scum Express and
Daily Torygraph. Given its business agenda,
FT's decision was unsurprising. The
Scum Express has a lengthy record of refusing to give top billing to big stories that everyone else thinks important. It went with some risible nonsense about migrants (so, no surprise there). But the
Torygraph's omission was more surprising. It preferred to lead on a story about hospital patients' lives being at risk due to a critical shortage of out-of-hours doctors, a very important story, to be fair.
Even accepting the importance of that topic, however, surely the Hillsborough report deserved some space on the front page as well? There was a blurb over the masthead to five pages of good coverage in the sports section, including two excellent commentaries,
one by Henry Winter. There was also
a thoughtful article by the former Liverpool footballer, Alan Hansen, now a
Torygraph columnist, who was in the team that played at Hillsborough. He wrote: 'I have encountered ignorance about Hillsborough on many occasions, finding myself having to correct the inaccurate version of events. Recently I was at an event when the tragedy became a topic of conversation. "Yes, but really. It was the Liverpool fans who were responsible wasn't it," I was told. You can put straight those who say this, but then feel deeply disturbed that such a view still exists. How could anyone fail to know the fans were blameless in 1989? But regardless of how angry I feel hearing such views expressed, what must the families have suffered hearing similar for twenty three years? The report explicitly removes the excuse of ignorance for those who misunderstood the tragedy. Each sentence in it reads as a tribute to the honesty, integrity and dignity of the families and is an acknowledgement of everything they have been saying since those first, scurrilous accusations surfaced.' To used one of Hansen's most widely-used catchphrases, 'unbelievable.'
England manager Roy Hodgson claims that he is more confident his side will reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after the 1-1 home draw with Ukraine. Frank Lampard's late penalty salvaged a point for an understrength England to leave them second in Group H. Despite a lacklustre display, Hodgson said: 'I was very pleased with many of the aspects of the play tonight. I leave Wembley a lot more confident that we have a group of players who will take this England team to Rio.' England were without a number of regulars, including forwards Wayne Rooney, Andy Carroll, Ashley Young and Theo Walcott and the defensive duo of John Terry and Ashley Cole. Hodgson was forced to call up midfield trio Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana and Jake Livermore - none of whom have represented their country at senior level before - and selected inexperienced duo Tom Cleverley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to face Ukraine. 'At the end of the day, we have had two youngsters starting the game. They have come off and we have replaced them with three other youngsters,' continued the England boss.
'We have a whole team off the field, who, under normal circumstances, would have been competing for places.' After starting their World Cup qualifying campaign with a convincing 5-0 win in Moldova last Friday, there were high hopes that England would continue with a victory over Ukraine, the team many believe will provide the main competition in the group. However, Hodgson's side lacked the fluency they demonstrated in Chisinau and looked to be staring at defeat following Yevgeni Konoplianka's superb twenty five-yard opening goal in the first half. They had a Jermain Defoe goal ruled out for a rather soft foul, but Lampard rescued a point when he converted from the spot after Yevgeni Khacheridi handled in the area. As England pushed for a winner, Steven Gerrard was sent off for a second bookable offence. 'I'll concede that the first ten, maybe even the first fifteen minutes, we weren't at our best. We started slowly,' said Hodgson. 'But the next seventy five minutes, we dominated the game totally. I thought we controlled the game, we kept playing, we kept probing, we kept trying to play our football. We created chances throughout the game, we had a goal disallowed, we hit the post three times and in the end we got an equaliser. You could have argued we might have had more because of some of the chances we missed were good chances. I suppose it is two points dropped because you want to win your home games. But the fact is we played against a good Ukraine team. They had the benefit of a super goal that put them on the front foot which meant our task became harder.' Hodgson was also critical of referee Cuneyt Cakir, who awarded six yellow cards to England players, two of which resulted in Gerrard's dismissal. 'We didn't have a lot of help out there tonight,' said Hodgson. 'We had five bookings and a sending off, which is enormous, considering the way we played. I hardly saw a foul in the game.' England's next World Cup qualifier in Group H is on 12 October, when they host San Marino, beaten 6-0 at home by Montenegro on Tuesday. Four days later, England travel to Poland, who beat Moldova 2-0 on Tuesday after drawing 1-1 with Montenegro last Friday. In other resutls, Wales manager Chris Coleman said he was 'embarrassed' by his side's 'criminal' display in the 6-1 defeat by Serbia. The 2014 World Cup qualifying setback in Novi Sad was Wales' worst defeat since their 7-1 hiding by the Netherlands in 1996. Scotland's chances of qualifying hang by a thread after just two matches following a second home draw in four days. Macedonia's early goal by Nikolce Noveski should have been chalked off for offside, but they were good value for the lead. Kenny Miller levelled before the break for the Jocks having been set up by Jamie Mackie. And, funniest of all, Ryan McGivern's late own goal gave Luxembourg an unlikely World Cup draw with Northern Ireland at Windsor Park.
Or, a large bird of prey could have swooped down and carried him off to its lair to feed its chicks, too. But, it didn't. The Scum manager claimed that Williams, had 'deliberately' aimed the ball at Van Persie, who reacted furiously - both players were cautioned by referee Michael Oliver. Ferguson added on Sky Sports: 'With the Van Persie situation, you can clearly see that he could have been killed. [Williams] should be banned for a long time because that was the most dangerous thing I've seen on a football field for many years. It was absolutely deliberate. The whistle has gone, the game has stopped and he has done that right in front of the referee, he could have killed the lad.' Williams denied that he had hit Van Persie intentionally. 'I've seen it on the TV and that's [Ferguson's] opinion,' said Williams. 'Everyone's going to have their own opinion but, from my point of view, I tried to apologise on the pitch but it all flared up. I just kicked the ball in frustration and obviously not trying to hit him square on the head. I understand exactly why he's angry. I'd be the same if the ball hit me on the head at that pace.' The Scum striker Wayne Rooney tried to play the incident down. 'I think it's one of those things,' he said. 'The whistle's gone, the defender has gone to clear and it's hit him in the head. I think probably the right decision from the referee.' The Scum led the Premier League by six points going into the weekend's fixtures but, after the draw with Swansea and rivals Sheikh Yer Man City's win over Reading, that advantage has been cut to four points. 
It capped a miserable day for the number nine, as he and his strike partner, Ba, struggled to break down a resolute Rangers defence expertly marshalled by Ryan Nelsen. The one time the two did link up to good effect midway through an uninspiring first-half ended with Cisse being denied by Fabio's well-timed tackle. Ba also fired two free-kicks into the stands as Newcastle looked short on ideas without influential midfielders Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa, both missing through injury. Newcastle were struggling for inspiration, until Pardew brought on Ameobi and Gabriel Obertan with half an hour to go. The change worked, as the home side became much more of a threat in the final third - Ba turning and having a shot deflected over and then seeing a weak header saved by Rob Green. A goal seemed inevitable, and it was no surprise when Ameobi slotted home. There was still time for the impressive Marveaux to go close with two shots which were well saved by Green, but Newcastle had done enough. The only negative to come out of the game for the hosts was a fifth booking of the season for Tiote, which rules the midfielder out of his side's Boxing Day trip to The Scum. Rangers will take plenty of heart from their workmanlike performance, with defeats for their relegation rivals Reading, Wigan and Southampton meaning very little has changed in the bottom four.
'He didn't want to be on the bench and didn't want to be a substitute, so he went home,' said Redknapp. 'He has been fined two weeks' wages, one hundred and thirty thousand pounds. Not too bad for two weeks - decent isn't it?' Asked how he might handle a player like that, Redknapp said: 'We'll find out in January.' The transfer window could see plenty of movement at the Strangers, with Redknapp admitting that his squad needs to be strengthened if they are to have a realistic chance of avoiding relegation. Strangers are currently five points from safety, after taking just ten points from their first eighteen league games. However, their form has improved under Redknapp - with three draws and a victory coming in the new manager's first four matches. 'Let's not kid ourselves, it's a hard job we have got on here,' Redknapp added. 'We have got to try to improve a little bit in the transfer window to give ourselves half a chance. We are short of options in one or two positions. If you look at Newcastle, they can go and bring a couple of fresh forwards on to make the difference but we haven't got that option really. We have got Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson out with long-term injuries and we are desperately short of one or two bodies. Hopefully we can get to the window, get another result or two before then, and let's see what we can do in January.'
But they fell behind after one hundred and twenty nine seconds when Fernando Torres headed past goalkeeper Brad Guzan and were soon buried by a ruthless attacking display by the Blues. 'We cannot concede as early as that at places like these, you are on the back foot right away. It is vital that you come here and try and get a foothold in the game,' Lambert added. 'You can't feel sorry for yourselves, you take your medicine in football and you have to go again. We have got two days to mull over it and we have got to go again on Wednesday.' The victory carried Moscow Chelski FC up from seventh to third and interim manager Rafael Benitez, who succeeded Roberto di Matteo at the end of November, believes his side are starting to play the way he wants them to. 'Everything impressed me the performance of the team,' said the Spaniard. 'We have been talking before about the mentality of the team; attacking, creating chances, we had good movement, we were good in defence. As a team we had the balance we are looking for.'
Or, a large bird of prey could have swooped down and carried him off to its lair to feed its chicks, too. But, it didn't. The Scum manager claimed that Williams, had 'deliberately' aimed the ball at Van Persie, who reacted furiously - both players were cautioned by referee Michael Oliver. Ferguson added on Sky Sports: 'With the Van Persie situation, you can clearly see that he could have been killed. [Williams] should be banned for a long time because that was the most dangerous thing I've seen on a football field for many years. It was absolutely deliberate. The whistle has gone, the game has stopped and he has done that right in front of the referee, he could have killed the lad.' Williams denied that he had hit Van Persie intentionally. 'I've seen it on the TV and that's [Ferguson's] opinion,' said Williams. 'Everyone's going to have their own opinion but, from my point of view, I tried to apologise on the pitch but it all flared up. I just kicked the ball in frustration and obviously not trying to hit him square on the head. I understand exactly why he's angry. I'd be the same if the ball hit me on the head at that pace.' The Scum striker Wayne Rooney tried to play the incident down. 'I think it's one of those things,' he said. 'The whistle's gone, the defender has gone to clear and it's hit him in the head. I think probably the right decision from the referee.' The Scum led the Premier League by six points going into the weekend's fixtures but, after the draw with Swansea and rivals Sheikh Yer Man City's win over Reading, that advantage has been cut to four points. 
It capped a miserable day for the number nine, as he and his strike partner, Ba, struggled to break down a resolute Rangers defence expertly marshalled by Ryan Nelsen. The one time the two did link up to good effect midway through an uninspiring first-half ended with Cisse being denied by Fabio's well-timed tackle. Ba also fired two free-kicks into the stands as Newcastle looked short on ideas without influential midfielders Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa, both missing through injury. Newcastle were struggling for inspiration, until Pardew brought on Ameobi and Gabriel Obertan with half an hour to go. The change worked, as the home side became much more of a threat in the final third - Ba turning and having a shot deflected over and then seeing a weak header saved by Rob Green. A goal seemed inevitable, and it was no surprise when Ameobi slotted home. There was still time for the impressive Marveaux to go close with two shots which were well saved by Green, but Newcastle had done enough. The only negative to come out of the game for the hosts was a fifth booking of the season for Tiote, which rules the midfielder out of his side's Boxing Day trip to The Scum. Rangers will take plenty of heart from their workmanlike performance, with defeats for their relegation rivals Reading, Wigan and Southampton meaning very little has changed in the bottom four.
'He didn't want to be on the bench and didn't want to be a substitute, so he went home,' said Redknapp. 'He has been fined two weeks' wages, one hundred and thirty thousand pounds. Not too bad for two weeks - decent isn't it?' Asked how he might handle a player like that, Redknapp said: 'We'll find out in January.' The transfer window could see plenty of movement at the Strangers, with Redknapp admitting that his squad needs to be strengthened if they are to have a realistic chance of avoiding relegation. Strangers are currently five points from safety, after taking just ten points from their first eighteen league games. However, their form has improved under Redknapp - with three draws and a victory coming in the new manager's first four matches. 'Let's not kid ourselves, it's a hard job we have got on here,' Redknapp added. 'We have got to try to improve a little bit in the transfer window to give ourselves half a chance. We are short of options in one or two positions. If you look at Newcastle, they can go and bring a couple of fresh forwards on to make the difference but we haven't got that option really. We have got Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson out with long-term injuries and we are desperately short of one or two bodies. Hopefully we can get to the window, get another result or two before then, and let's see what we can do in January.'
But they fell behind after one hundred and twenty nine seconds when Fernando Torres headed past goalkeeper Brad Guzan and were soon buried by a ruthless attacking display by the Blues. 'We cannot concede as early as that at places like these, you are on the back foot right away. It is vital that you come here and try and get a foothold in the game,' Lambert added. 'You can't feel sorry for yourselves, you take your medicine in football and you have to go again. We have got two days to mull over it and we have got to go again on Wednesday.' The victory carried Moscow Chelski FC up from seventh to third and interim manager Rafael Benitez, who succeeded Roberto di Matteo at the end of November, believes his side are starting to play the way he wants them to. 'Everything impressed me the performance of the team,' said the Spaniard. 'We have been talking before about the mentality of the team; attacking, creating chances, we had good movement, we were good in defence. As a team we had the balance we are looking for.'
