Julie McNamara

“For the Hillsborough 97. The plaque screwed to this bench remembers those who died, giving fair warning, that if you are found reading The Sun here, it will be confiscated, and you will be escorted from the city. A sharp wit barely conceals the deep wounds of injustice inflicted by careless reportage during and after the Hillsborough disaster.

This gesture represents the best of Liverpool. We are fearless in our response to injustice and to the treachery shown by Sun journalists towards Liverpool football fans who lost their lives and to their bereaved families.

Why St John’s gardens? Because, here, we display the most respectful political memorials in a public garden nationally. Alongside the war memorials, there’s a memorial here for PITY (Parents Interring Their Young) from the Alder Hey Hospital inquiry. There’s a memorial for people killed in persecution. A memorial for LGBTIQ people, to connect us to a loving community in the People’s Republic of Liverpool.

I like to sit here behind St George’s courts, where once wealthy merchants were in charge of 80% of the slave trade. I sit on this bench to write and to breathe the clean air of truth to power...”