So why now?
Well, I normally do my snippets and rants via Twitter (@degsy1013) but sometimes 140 characters just isn't enough.
Today has been all about Anne and Kevin Williams. Kevin sadly died at Hillsborough aged just 15 (we all know what 'Hillsborough' means so I won't go into detail). He died, apparently, at 15:15. Why so accurate with the time? That is the legal cut off point of those who died that day.
His mother Anne has been campaigning since to have his inquest reopened as she has hard evidence he was alive up to 40 minutes past 15:15.
She started an on-line petition (E-Petition) that, by Government rules, meant if she got 100,000 signatures her case could be discussed in the House of Commons and potentially be re-opened.
This is the link to the E-Petition...
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19149
I think it was Tuesday 17th January when this suddenly went high profile with 50,000 signatures still needed.
Like many others I tweeted and re-tweeted this link to make as many people aware as possible. I contacted somewhere in the region of 15 'Celebrities' and what I call big accounts (those high profile ones with lots of followers) up to 3 times. Sadly only 4 actually retweeted (and hopefully signed). I'm sure the others are very busy but it takes 2 seconds to hit the 'retweet' button so there is no excuse in my mind. Even if they didn't agree (why wouldn't they?) what harm would it do to retweet it? I could 'name and shame' them but it doesn't matter now as without their help at approx 14:00, the 100,000 signatures target was achieved.
The sense of relief when the target was reached was fantastic. God only knows how Anne felt, but this is only part of her battle.
It's now up to people in the Commons to have yet another Hillsborough debate but hopefully common sense will prevail.
Well done to everyone involved in this. Hopefully Anne will get the outcome she has been after for 22 years.
(The details in this are correct as I know it. Please feel free to correct me.)
Well done Derek for both your efforts for Anne and your first blog. I think sometimes the so called celebs have so many followers their timeline must move so fast, they miss most tweets! lets hope the commons see sense and compassion! Keep up the good work. Regards Wayne @spectrumifs
ReplyDelete