Remember Hillsborough

What a sad, sad documentary on TV last night about the final report on the events at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield 23 years ago in which 96 Liverpool people lost their lives.

All sorts of pictures stay in my mind. There was the man who finished up the only surviving member of his family, knowing that not just his brother but his mother and sister were victims of the disaster. The mother who sent her 18 year old son off to his first ever away game that day and never got him back. The special constable who loved being part of the police family till she was bullied into changing her statement of events that day. The look on Andy Burnham's face (minister for media, culture and sport in 2010) as he realised the people of Liverpool were not going to give up their fight for a full and independent report. The decency and compassion of the Bishop of Liverpool who chaired the panel that wrote the final report.

And in the midst of these stories, the face of Sir Norman Bettinson who was in charge for the police that day and who at best colluded and at worst headed up a blatant cover-up of the incompetence of the emergency services at Hillsborough. Bettinson resigned last October, when the final Hillsborough Report made his position untenable, but by then he'd earned a lot of money, enjoyed a lot of power in the community and got a knighthood for his efforts. He still has his pension - and his knighthood. It seems Bettinson can't be charged with any crime relating to Hillsborough because he resigned. No, I don't understand that one either.

And, just in passing, the families will never get justice from the tabloid newspaper (You know who it was - I refuse to give them a mention) that accused Liverpool fans of picking the pockets of the dead and worse: the new legislation to force newspapers to apologise and pay compensation will not be retrospective.

Worst of all, families have to live with the knowledge that 41 people who died at Hillsborough were probably still alive after the 3.15pm cut-off when the emergency services gave up trying to rescue and rescucitate victims. The order to stop came from the police.

Next time you hear about a so-called conspiracy and react with disbelief, remember Hillsborough. It happened. And people are still suffering for it.