Words Dept.: entry

There’s a remarkable feature in today’s Observer. It’s a series of testimonials about the impact of Hillsborough, twenty years after the disaster. To spend time absorbing these unglossy, first-person statements from six people whose lives have been irrevocably altered by the events of 15 April 1989 is a desperately upsetting experience.

Over the years there have been a number of public rent-a-gobs (the late Brian Clough, Bernard Ingham and Kelvin McKenzie to name three) who, even with the benefit of reflection and in spite of the findings of the interim Taylor Report, suggested hooliganism was to blame for the crush that led to the death of 96 football fans that day. The view may persist among others. Let them read this.

Boris Johnson has also made some ill-judged comments about the tragedy. He infamously suggested that Liverpool tends to “wallow” in its “victim status”, implying that the city needs to move on from events of the past, including Hillsborough. The sense of injustice conveyed here by a mother whose 15-year-old son died at Hillsborough while 40 ambulances were forbidden from entering the stadium – and who continues to ask why – perhaps explains why those involved find it difficult to forget.