Abstract
Liverpool FC supporters encourage a boycott of The Sun newspaper following its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster
CREDIT: News Images Ltd/Alamy
At the time of writing, it won’t become a hat-trick of appearances.
Dale was due to appear for the first time at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 22 September, co-hosting the For The Many live podcast. However, in July, after a blitz of social media protest, the venue cancelled the event.
“I saw somebody on Twitter [X] had an agenda towards me, but it hadn’t spread like wildfire, so I didn’t think anything of it,” Dale told Index. “Then, literally a few hours later, my promoter called saying the Liverpool show was cancelled.”
The post focused on Dale’s link to Sir Norman Bettison, the former chief constable of Merseyside. As managing director of Biteback Publishing, in 2016 Dale acquired the rights to Bettison’s book, Hillsborough Untold, which centred on the Hillsborough stadium disaster of April 1989 - a fatal crush at a football match in Sheffield.
As a result of the disaster, 97 fans of Liverpool Football Club died. An independent panel in 2012 showed that the crush was not the fault of the fans, and an inquest absolved them of all blame in 2016. It was ruled fans were unlawfully killed, with the police largely to blame for the disaster (though no one was prosecuted for the deaths).
Bettison is held in disdain in Liverpool after previously being accused in parliament of smearing Liverpool fans as part of a “black propaganda” campaign, aiming to shift the disaster’s cause away from police and towards the fans. Bettison denies the claims.
In 2017, he was charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office for statements he was alleged to have made about Hillsborough and his role in its aftermath, which the Crown Prosecution Service claimed were untrue. All charges were dropped in 2018.
Dale told Index that money was barely a factor in the decision to publish.
“If I think there’s a case to publish a book, I’ll happily stand by it. Nobody has to buy it,” he said. “But what cancelling an event does is deny free choice. Nobody was forced to buy a ticket.”
The Liverpool Philharmonic declined to speak to Index, but in a statement made at the time it said: “Liverpool Philharmonic has made the decision that the event is not appropriate due to local sensitivities. We value the trust and support of our community and take our responsibility to uphold our shared values seriously.”
When it comes to freedom of speech, should there be consideration for how it might relate to sensitive local issues?
“That was the excuse the venue used,” said Dale, who recently attempted to become a Conservative candidate for parliament before withdrawing.
“If you take that to its logical extent you can make an argument for many events being cancelled due to local sensitivities.
“If somebody says something you take exception to or disagree with, the way to get over that is to argue the case with them, and you might even change their mind.”
Dale also downplayed the number of calls for cancellation on X.
“It was about two people who had support from about 10 others with large followings, so it was a complete kneejerk reaction from the Philharmonic Hall. I think in the long term they might regret it because they have set a precedent now,” he said.
Simon Hughes is a Liverpool-based football writer for The Athletic. He is the author of books covering Liverpool FC and the modern social history of the city.
He told Index that people outside the city might struggle to understand the strong, unresolved feelings that Hillsborough still elicits there.
“It’s still the worst stadium disaster in Britain and people are still rightly angry about it 35 years later,” he said.
“If it happened in the old Soviet Union, the West would be using it as an example of how the state failed - a massive cover-up. We have all the answers in the full public glare, yet nobody has properly been held accountable, which makes it unique.”
Hughes remembers the release of Bettison’s book, and thinks Dale has underestimated the depth of people’s feelings in Liverpool at the time.
However, he isn’t a fan of “cancel culture” more broadly, and believes it’s up to people if they wish to attend.
“People might actually turn up to protest instead,” he said.
“It’s like when The Sun newspaper was boycotted in Liverpool. The boycott came after the paper printed falsehoods about Liverpool fans at Hillsborough [and] people just stopped buying it. It was a very organic decision.
“As a reporter, I want to see a free press, and if people don’t believe in that press then it’s a decision for them to make.”