Apology or not Kelvin Mackenzie is still a shit

23 years ago Kelvin Mackenzie, the then editor of the Sun ran a story titled "The Truth" which claimed that Liverpool fans robbed and urinated on the dead and dying at Hillsborough.

Even six years ago  He was bullishly defending this position.During an after-dinner speech to New Calstle law firm Mincoffs Solicitors LLPon 30 November 2006, he said:

All I did wrong there was tell the truth. There was a surge of Liverpool fans who had been drinking and that is what caused the disaster. The only thing different we did was put it under the headline "The Truth". I went on world at one the next day and apologised. I only did that because Rupert Murdoch told me to. I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now because we told the truth.

 Today he has changed his tune offering this statement:

Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline.

I too was totally misled. Twenty three ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium.

I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster.

As the Prime Minister has made clear these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters thereby shifting the blame for the tragedy from themselves.

It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have been far more accurate had I written the headline The Lies rather than The Truth.
I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong.

 A case of too little too late, Im afraid. Somehow I doubt that poor contrite Kelvin will be seen enjoying the "Sene of Sight" at the Walker Gallery any time soon.

The Sun was not the only paper to carry such lies but they all retracted the story quickly afterward. It was not until 2004 that the Sun apologised. and it took until today for Mackenzie to utter these words. Mackenzie is still a scumbag.

Kelvin MacKenzie Hacked? Oh the Horror.....

Like most people in this cuntry I was disgusted by the News of the World Hacking scandal. Be it the murdered teenager Milly Dowler or a Z-list celebrity, what the paper did was utterly inexcusable. That said there is one hacking victim whose plight makes me feel a little less outraged.

The Guardian notes that even former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenziewas hacked by the Sun's erstwhile sister paper the News of the World. In this week's Spectator, MacKenzie writes about the incident in terms that show the level of his distress at betrayal by journalistic colleagues.

He does little to hide his displeasure at discovering the truth about the News of the World's interception of his mobile phone voicemail messages.

He begins by explaining that he was called in by officers from Operation Weeting – the Scotland Yard investigation into hacking – and shown "a tatty binder with my name down the side." He continues:

"Sheet one had my name on it with a number by the side... The next page was more interesting. It had the pin code used to access my phone's voicemails.

Up to this moment I had always believed that the pin codes of mobiles were 0000 or 1111 and that's why it was so easy to crack. But no.

In my case it was something like 367549V27418. That surely must kill the idea that the hackers guessed or blagged the number – they must have had inside help from the phone networks."

It gets even more interesting by the time he is shown the final page. It contained six dates in 2006 that gave the time and duration of his phone being hacked. He writes:

"For the first time I felt uneasy. If you have been editor of The Sun for 12 years, if you have floated and run a public company as founder, chairman and chief executive, very little worries or concerns you any more; your nerve endings have become encased in cement.

But, oddly, I felt quite threatened by this invasion and understood more clearly why celebrities — no matter if they were A- or Z-listers — felt they had been violated."

I know this intrusion was unconscionable but I shed no tears whatsoever for a revolting little cumstain like Kelvin MacKenzie.

MacKenzie was the Sun's editor between 1981 and 1994. During this time the paper produce a host of quality stories (pah!) including:

- Elton John had sex with underage rent boys
- Elton John had taken the vocal cords from his guard dogs so that they did not disturb his sleep

Unsurprisingly the former Mr Dwight received a seven figure sum in damages for these stories!

A fabricated interview with Falklands veteran Simon Weston who had received serious burn injuries during an Argintniean Air Force attack on the vessel Sir Galahad at Bluff Cove.

Un funded story that actor Jeremy Brett was dying of Aids when in fact he was dying of a cardiomyopathy

The coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy and his continued unrepentance. To this day the Sun sells very poorly in Liverpool

The list goes on and on...

MacKenzie represents everything that is wrong with the shit that passes as journalism across a large swathe of the British Press. It would be somewhat fitting if he were photographed publicly masturbating over a Royal Family tea towel. Hmm if only my Photoshop skills were up to snuff....