The lessons of Hillsborough go far beyond those learnt long ago about how safely to police a sports stadium. The lesson that perhaps will never be learnt is that at heart other people are not so different from us. Whether they follow other creeds or have joined us from foreign lands, or whether they come from a proud city on the Mersey that looks out towards the New World, they have the same feelings and sensibilities. They are numbed with fear and shock when they see their brethren lying dead and dying. They do not reach into the back pocket of a corpse for a tenner, or empty their bladders over coppers. They weep and grieve inconsolably for friends and neighbours, and for strangers with whom they share a postcode and the love of a football club. They – just like Mr Hansen, Kenny Dalglish and other Liverpool FC legends whose unflinching, unfading commitment to offer solace to the survivors of Hillsborough has been so humbling to those of us looking on from afar – never entirely recover. They are united with us all in this perplexing, painful business of being human.