Hillsborough

IT is the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy and the Today programme remembered it in its slot after this morning's 8 o'clock news.

I could nit-pick that the coverage was only the same length as the that given to the German immigrant ship yesterday and that David Blunkett was given the opportunity during an interview to make political capital out of his time as Home Secretary, but some might think this churlish and point out that it's the BBC, so what should anyone expect.

You would have thought that with the scale of the tragedy, presenter James Naughtie would have been 'losing it' as he so often does when reporting on certain issues, but he was word perfect and his voice never wavered.

Perhaps he should be applauded for such a professional performance in dealing with the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters, especially when we know he can get so emotional and has trouble finding his words when reporting on certain other topics.

Back in 1989 football was still football. There was no Premier League, no foreign ownership, few foreign players and even fewer foreign managers. Those representing their clubs identified with the city or town bearing the name of that club and the Football League looked after all 92 clubs - no club received exclusive status just because it was the richest and could afford to buy the best players.