JUSTICE FOR THE 96.

Today, April 15th is the 21st anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. I feel, as a Liverpool fan, it is my duty to help remind everyone of what happened, just as a way to pay the respects to the 96 people who lost their life .

21 years ago over 20,000 Liverpool fans went to watch their beloved Reds play in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. 96 never returned home.

Just read that statement. 96 people never returned home.
I think even now, after watching all the documentaries, films, memorial services and even visiting the memorial outside Anfield, it's still so hard to believe what actually happened. Despite that i can't even go this far in the blog without having to hold back the tears.


Football, as a whole has changed so much since then, and the Hillsborough disaster would seem to act as a form of wake up call, to help sport move into a modern era, where supporters weren't treated like everyone was a potential hooligan, penned into a unsafe, crumbling terracing.

I was brought up to be a Liverpool fan by my step dad, someone who witnessed the horrific scenes live on TV, hence my strong feeling about it. Which also leads to why i feel so strongly about the 'Don't buy the Sun' campaign. The headlines by The Sun looked something like this :

THE TRUTH

• Some fans picked pockets of victims



• Some fans urinated on brave cops



• Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life

Even recently in Modern Studies we were watching a DVD about the impact of the media. These headlines that The Sun published were obviously such a controversy, and the story of it appeared on this DVD. Now, i understand that the vast majority of the class had no idea of what had happened. While watching the DVD, i have to admit, i was getting quite upset and angry as it was another reminder of the disaster and how The Sun had dealt with it. After we had finished watching the DVD i was discussing it with Lauren, and i can't remember her exact words but it was something along the lines of 'Why do the Liverpool fans get so angry, they only published the truth'. That is by no means any fault of Lauren's, but just shows the impact that the media has. After watching a 15 minute video about it, the headlines that they had produced, had her believing the stories of the absolute scum that they had been portrayed as.

The Sun issued an apology for their treatment of the Hillsborough disaster in 2004, saying 'it has commited the most terrible mistake in it's history by printing it'. Although this by no means made up for what they did, the apology did acknowledge that they regretted printed it. You know what then happened in 2006? Mackenzie who was the editor of The Sun, then came out and said that he had only apologised because Rupert Murdoch had told him to, 'i was not sorry then, and i am not sorry now'. Still to this day, many newsagents in Liverpool refuse to stock The Sun newspaper, and i know for a fact no-one in my house has ever bought a copy of the newspaper since.

At 14:30 today, I'll watch the memorial service. At 15:06, the exact minute the game was abandoned i will have a minutes silence, in memory of those who lost their lifes. And that's all we can really do, watch on and remember what happened as way to pay our respects

April 15th is never about football at Liverpool FC. It's about remembering each fan who lost their life. They'll never walk alone.

JUSTICE FOR THE 96

Queer as Folk

As i make my journey, usually once a week to my place of work, which is indeed Play Planet, i think it is inevitable that i am going to wish for a quiet day, as this leads to no-one having to get too stressed out, which then can lead to what i suppose can be described as an enjoyable day at work. It also allows me to do something which i enjoy, people watching. I understand this isn't always the best idea, because when you get caught staring at someone, you know what it's like when you get one as those awkward moments. You look away, but are desperate to look back and see if they are still looking at you...anyway I'm luckily enough that doesn't happen very much, as I'm usually tucked away in the corner of the kitchen.

As you can imagine, Play Planet is the type of place where you get a range of different characters, some of them when really do stick to stereotypes. Single mums, single dads, family days out, mum's days out, the very rare dad's day out...and then there is the parties when you can really tell who's really stressing out to give their kid the best birthday party, and really can't do enough to help us, and others who really don't give a shit, and expect us to produce a magnificent party with minimal effort from them.

This is what links back to the title of this blog 'Queer as Folk', what is it that makes folk, queer?

Queer

noun

2. of a questionable nature or character; suspicious; shady.

something queer about the language of the prospectus kept investors away.

So it must be the way we act around others, and this is the best things about people watching, it's not the standing, watching them, but watching the way they interact with me. I, as a member of staff serving them, usually someone they have never seen or spoke to before, will always do my best to be polite and as attentive as possible. The reaction i get from the customer will be completely differ from each person. Who would of though that a simple question such as 'what flavour of Capri Sun would you like?' can trigger so many different responses. The best one is the look of delight on someone's face when they realize that orange isn't their only option and something along the lines of 'oooo, what are the choices' comes from their mouth. Then there are others who look at you bluntly with a look of disgust, and grunt 'orange' at you, like i had even dared to ask. It's simple things like that which makes me appreciate being raised properly, where manners were battered into me until they became second nature.

So i think the conclusion i am going to draw from this is basically i don't like rude people, but i'm never going to go down to their level because i agree with the statement 'treat people how you'd like to be treated' because i know how good it feels when someone is polite to you, and i believe they are appreciative when i'm friendly to them. And i hope now you can understand why i have chosen the image i have to be displayed at the top :)

The Opener

Well... after some deliberation, Nicolle Begbie has decided to get a blog. The main reason for this, is i like the idea of a blog. Anyone who is reading this right now, genuinely wants to read what i have to say. Now i do understand that you may not like what I'm writing, or you don't really care, but you have clicked on the link to my blog with the intention of reading through what i have to say. This is the difference to those who are only my friend on Facebook because they feel they have to click 'Add as Friend', or those who feel obliged to Follow me on Twitter because i follow them. I also like that i don't have to limit my thoughts to however many characters you get on Facebook and Twitter, which ensures i can develop ideas which may help you understand me, and my life better. So this is, the first of what i hope to be many blogs which allows me to portray my thoughts, feeling and general events in the life of Begbie.
For now, Peace Out. :)