Yesterday, at Preston Crown Court, former Police superintendent David Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans in the crush at the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough stadium at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. Relatives and friends of those who died were deeply unhappy: was no-one responsible for the crush, and the subsequent deaths?
But covering the continuing grief of those relatives was a mere side-show for one newspaper where high principles have never been allowed to stand in the way of pursuing More And Bigger Sales For Themselves Personally Now since 1969. Yes, the acquittal has been splashed all over the front page of the Murdoch Sun. “Hillsborough Cop Cleared … STILL NO JUSTICE” thunders the headline.
The supporting article tells “FURIOUS Hillsborough families branded British justice ‘shameful’ yesterday after police match commander David Duckenfield was cleared of any involvement in the deaths of 95 Liverpool fans … Gasps were heard in the public gallery, while one relative screamed ‘Stitched up again!’ and others collapsed in tears when the verdict was read out”. It’s almost as if the Murdoch goons cared.
There is even a “30 Years Of No Justice” timeline. But one item is missing from that list, and anyone who has covered the Hillsborough disaster and its long and painful aftermath knows what it is. It is the shameful, deliberate and utterly inexcusable behaviour of the same Murdoch paper that is today pretending it gives a flying foxtrot about all those Liverpool fans it spent so much time slagging off back in 1989.
Then, under the less than benign editorship of the deeply unpleasant Kelvin McFilth, the paper blamed Liverpool fans for the disaster, despite its infamous “THE TRUTH” front page admitting that the cops had given the order to open the Leppings Lane gates, the action that precipitated the crush - because, at the same time, no-one guided fans to the side pens, where there was room. So they went straight on into the crowded middle pen.
Other papers had run the same untrue story, but soon realised the error of their ways and apologised. The Sun did not. Even when Kel said sorry, he made it clear that he was only doing so because Rupert Murdoch had leaned on him to do so. Finally, when he eventually admitted the story was bogus, he blamed his sources - rather than conceding that it was his job as editor to make sure the material they fed him was genuine.
Meanwhile, the Sun was boycotted in Liverpool and later across Merseyside. The loss of sales ultimately forced the Murdoch press to own up. But there has been no forgiveness, and nor will there be. Today’s front page splash is all about trying to bust the boycott, but it will not work. Only at the very end of the article is it conceded “In the wake of the tragedy, The Sun wrongly repeated police allegations that fans were to blame. We subsequently apologised ‘for our gravest error’”. Mealy mouthed and hiding behind quote marks.
The Sun’s so-called journalism was crap in 1989. It’s still crap today. There is no reason why the 30-year boycott should end. Ever. Don’t buy the Sun.
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Murdoch's Scum wasn't the only user of that foul, lying headline. It was also used in the follow up by Murdoch's Sunday Slimes - and guess who its editor was...Andrew Neil, who has never apologised for that or a particularly poisoned piece by far right lackey Edward Pearce, and who escaped any questions let alone the kind of verbal thuggery that marks his true persona, a despicable dogsbody.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Duckenfield is guilty out of his own mouth and no amount of legalised and jargonised bullshit can change it, nor can a rigged "summing up" by the judge at Preston.
There is something much deeper and uglier in this matter. Something that goes way beyond the piece of human detritus Duckenfield. Its threads weave all the way through every level of the establishment, local and national, and through its international news feeds. Everyone involved in its perpetration is a yellow coward of the lowest type.
By comparison the broken hearted families are heroic and a credit to the human spirit.
So, a lifelong curse on those who have caused such needless deep pain and run away into the shadows. May the perpetrators rot in hell.
As well as no justice for the 96, as long as the likes of de piffle, murdoch(s) brooks and mcfilth have their liberty there will NEVER be justice.
ReplyDeleteIdiots run to them thinking they will help.
DeleteIt often backfires.
Tsk, The S*n acting all affronted on the working classes behalf - anyone would think there was an election in the offing?
ReplyDeleteOn realising that his lies were costing Murdoch thousands upon thousands of pounds in loss of sales in Merseyside (120,000 copies were sold per day prior to Hillsborough. After, 'The Truth' front page those sales plummeted to 30,000 and kept on dropping) Mackenzie got on the phone to Kenny Dalglish asking for advice on what he could do to get the region back on side. "You know that headline 'The Truth' you printed?" Kenny said. "You just need to print a headline in the same size saying 'We Lied'" Mackenzie replied "I can't do that" and Dalglish responded "Then I can't help you"
Presently, I believe The S*n sells less than 2,000 copies per day on Merseyside. That's still 2,000 too many if you ask me. The decision to boycott The S*n in Liverpool has shown that, away from its right wing rhetoric and toxic influence, society can prosper in terms of equality and solidarity. It speaks volumes that Liverpool is now considered a Labour stronghold impossible to breach, as well as a strong remain city.
So probably not a good idea for the Conservative Party in Wirral West to quote from the Sun at the last general election.
ReplyDeleteOver the years the city of Liverpool has paid a dreadful socioeconomic price for its opposition to extreme right wing politicians and their media sock puppets. At times the propaganda, no exaggeration, has reached neonazi proportions. Terrible as it was and is, the Hillsborough disaster is but one symptom.
ReplyDeleteThe roots of it all are in deliberately inflicted cultural corruption of a nation in serious decline and all too ready to find and try to isolate "a cause". The method could "work" for a while but eventually it failed as most of the rest of the country suffered too. Then those who were all too ready over the years to join in with media jeers found themselves subject to the same evil socioeconomic attacks. Tragically and entirely predictably Britain splintered into the far right xenophobic, tribalist, racist and fearful shithole we are now. The awful results are all around you. Now there isn't so much as a bat of the media eyelid when thousands of lives and their communities are destroyed by Tata and Npower. Our culture has failed its people at virtually every level. Small wonder, then, it has produced the utter lying charlatan that is Boris Johnson.
But the people of Merseyside can at least look themselves in the mirror and say they resisted the lies and sheer rottenness that brought this country so low.