Here comes The Sun

...or maybe not if a very ill advised campaign in Scouseland gathers any more momentum.

The Hillsborough tragedy has hung over the area like a storm cloud,  for many, many years as the families of the victims sought justice for their lost loved ones in light of allegations of  police mismanagement and cover-ups as well as stories of drunken behaviour and irresponsibility on the part of the fans.

That justice was achieved earlier this year when an inquest into the death of the victims indicated they had died as a result of said police actions and that the fans were in no way responsible for the downfall of their colleagues.

The aftermath of Hillsborough continues to have a knock-on effect though as there is now a concerted campaign emanating from the powerful Hillsborough relative group, to ban the sale of the daily newspaper, The Sun, which published derogatory articles relating to the behaviour of fans at Hillsborough, after the event. Their reports have been largely discredited but the after taste remains.

The potential blanket ban on the sale of The Sun would be welcomed by many. It would, however, be a real civil liberties issue. There are many people in the Scouseland conurbation who are not native to the area and who have regularly or occasionally purchased and read The Sun, there are newsagents and other outlets who choose to sell it as it revenue earner.

It has a very well respected racing section, it appeals to a certain demographic who enjoy the eccentric head-line writing and page 3 style journalism, who can forget the 'Phew What a Scorcher' headline when 90 degree temperatures hit the Country, or ' Gotcha' as the Admiral Belgrano Argentine battleship was sunk during the Falkland war?

If Mayor Joe Anderson and his colleagues do ban this publication it will be a sad day for a City which has worked so hard to recover from the cronyism of the Derek Hatton era. It will also go some way towards confirming the remarks of Boris Johnson in The Spectator in 2004.

So lets keep the democratic process, the freedom of the press and the ability of people to buy their periodical of choice and focus on real time problems which we would expect our elected representatives to address on our behalf. Come on Liverpool, you're better than this.

Margaret Thatcher

So, the Iron Lady is dead. At 87 she was the same age as the Queen and my mum, both iron ladies in their own way
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All the commentators are indicating that there is no grey area surrounding the ex-prime minister, you either loved her or hated her. For my part, I was a fan. While the three day week and other trade union disruptive behaviour was an inconvenience, it highlighted a part of Britain which needed to be reigned in, she obliged. Her alliance with Ronald Regan cemented that special relationship with the USA which Tony Blair did his utmost to tear asunder.  That relationship went a long way to ending the Cold War, and the threat which the Soviet Union posed to the West. Gorbachev became a fan too. She was also strong in the face of Argentine aggression towards the Falkland Islands, and stood toe to toe with the IRA. Their bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton only re-enforced her resolve and her unwillingness to be turned.

Closer to home, as the first lady prime minister she end out a message to women that there was no glass ceiling, and what you strived for could be achieved, whatever gender you were. I suspect Cheryl Blair benefited in no small way to the Thatcher pioneering process. A wide and varied range of council house tenants are now home owners as a result of her 'right to buy' initiative and while her Keynesian oriented social reforms were not overly popular, they were what the Country needed at the time.

It is sad to see celebrations in the streets of Glasgow, to mark her passing, with many of the participants too young and blinkered to even understand the climate in which she operated. The miners will continue to hold a grievance as they are of the view that she destroyed their industry. Time has shown that coal was a dying commodity and the lack of investment in the Country's energy policies after that became apparent lies very much at the feet of the Labour government which followed her.

We are all suffering the effects of the nationalisation of British Gas, but most of her other decisions have been vindicated over time as successive governments have not repealed her policies.

She will for ever be seen as the villain of the piece up here on Merseyside, and Derek Hatton was rolled out yesterday to continue the assault on her character, God he looked a mess. It was she, however, who continued to support Liverpool after the Toxteth riots, and whose vision helped to the City  to become what it is today. There are many who blame her for the cover-up over the Hillsborough disaster, however, she had used the police creatively during the miners strike and was unlikely to let them be crucified by the victim's relatives at that stage. It wasn't her who opened the gates or made questionable decisions on the day, but difficult  decisions she did make all her term in office.

She will be afforded the funeral she deserves as one of the great British prime ministers, and the one thing her death has done is get people talking about politics again. Currently Parliament lacks characters, and like her or loathe her, a character she definitely was. Where would Spitting Image have gone without her?