The "police had failed to do enough and had also tried to blame Liverpool fans" -David Cameron. "up to 41 of the 96 who died could have potentially been saved if they had received treatment earlier" -Dr Bill Kirkup. These two quotes are to me, the two main points of the new report into the Hillsborough disaster, the sad thing is that everyone has known them to be true since 1989 so why has it taken an 18 month investigation using 450,000 pages of documents to figure this out?
Don't get me wrong, the fact that the blame has finally been placed where it belongs and not on "mayhem caused by drunks" -Irvine Patnick (To Margaret Thatcher in 1989), is good news, but it is late news. News that has only formalized a clear truth. All that has been given today is a sorry, a meaningless apology from people who simply succeed from those who should have given it decades ago. What matters is that this becomes a stepping stone, the report attributes the disaster to gross negligence on the part of the police, not the officers on the gates, but the men giving the orders, the people who ordered the police to cause the deaths of 96 people. These are the people who should be brought to justice and it is clear that charges should be made and the fight for justice will continue as fiercely as before.
Today's apology should be welcomed by everyone, but not seen as anything more. Justice has not yet been done, but another step towards it has been taken. Justice can be ran from, but not avoided. It may take many more years, but those responsible for the gates being opened will be held to account, justice will be achieved for the 96.
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