Shameful

There can only be one subject for football fans at the moment: the Hillsborough disaster.

Watching events unfold yesterday sent cold shivers down the spine, and only reinforces the utter contempt one feels for the politicians, the police and the press. It's difficult to know which of those three to feel the most hatred for in actual fact, and I sincerely hope that as many senior people as possible are brought to book for what they did.

I have memories of football matches in the days of terraces, and - though coloured by the fact that I was quite young and small, as well as living in a small town all my life - the lasting impression is one of fear. Herded along city streets while stony faced coppers sit astride massive horses, into the ground through impossibly tight turnstiles and up into the stands, full of people shouting, laughing, smoking, high and nervous in anticipation of the match.

Some of it was brought back by the images of Hillsborough on the news, with people (the lucky ones) being hoisted out of the crush to the level above; knowing now that ambulances were denied entry to the ground while people lay on the grass, receiving futile CPR; watching the police in their normal demeanour, pointing at people, arguing, wasting time; fans ripping up the advertising hoardings to make stretchers.

And then the senior officers, the Tory MP, colluding to cover up their incompetence, changing witness statements, feeding that shit to Kelvin fucking MacKenzie. How wonderful it would be if that bastard was taken down as far as he can go. Then using the Police Computer to find out information with which to smear the dead. The innocent dead.

It wouldn't happen now, said some Labour MP. Can you imagine 96 people dying at the Olympic Games? There would be a massive outcry, he said. Maybe he's right, but I do see some very disturbing parallels in the Tomlinson case, to name just one. If it weren't for the internet, we can be sure that there would have been an even more monumental struggle to get to the bottom of that particular piece of police mismanagement and thuggery.

Twenty three years of fighting this repulsive machine, forcing the truth out like blood from a stone, and at last the families of the 96 have something to hold on to. Let's hope they don't let go.