MR JUSTICE WARBY Approved Judgment Monroe v Hopkins [2017] EWHC 433 (QB) evidence of what people actually thought the statement meant, or how they reacted in fact. (3) Most cases turn on the “natural and ordinary meaning” that the ordinary reasonable reader would take from a statement. But there are cases in which the answer to the question, “what does statement X mean?” will be altered by facts outside the statement itself, which are not matters of common knowledge. If readers of the statement complained of were aware of such extraneous facts, and that knowledge would affect the way that an ordinary reasonable person would understand the statement, there will be an “innuendo” meaning. By these means an otherwise innocent statement may be defamatory, or an otherwise defamatory statement innocent, in the eyes of readers aware of the “innuendo facts”. The principles are stated in Fullam v Newcastle Chronicle & Journal [1977] 1 WLR 651 and McAlpine v Bercow [2013] EWHC 1342 (QB) [49]-[55]. (4) But “A statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the claimant’s reputation”: s 1 Defamation Act 2013. This provision (“the Serious Harm requirement”) means that it is not enough to prove that a statement had a defamatory tendency. A claimant must prove as a matter of fact that their reputation suffered, or is likely to suffer, serious harm as a result of the publication complained of. 24. It is common ground that the right starting point in this case is to decide the meaning(s) of the tweets. After that, it is necessary to determine whether the meaning(s) arrived at have a defamatory tendency, according to the common law tests. If they do, the next step is to make findings about the extent of publication. Finally, I must consider whether the Serious Harm requirement is satisfied. What did the tweets mean? The rival cases 25. Ms Monroe’s case is that the First Tweet bore one or other of two natural and ordinary meanings: either (1) that she had vandalised a war memorial and had thereby desecrated the memory of those who fought for her freedom and had committed a criminal act; or alternatively (2) that she condoned or approved of the criminal vandalisation of a war memorial and the consequent desecration of the memory of those who fought for her freedom. 26. The argument for Ms Hopkins is that the First Tweet did not suggest or imply that Ms Monroe had herself vandalised any memorial. Read in their full and proper context they mean no more than that Ms Monroe “was supportive – politically – of those who had painted the slogan onto the monument.” 27. Ms Monroe complains that the Second Tweet bore an innuendo meaning that she “approved or condoned the criminal vandalisation and desecration of the women’s war memorial in Whitehall during an anti-government protest.” The innuendo facts relied on are: the vandalisation of the war memorial; the outrage it caused; PennyRed’s “I don’t have a problem” tweet; the wide reporting and comment on that tweet; the two tweets published by Ms Hopkins, condemning @PennyRed’s view; and the fact that the Second Tweet referred to @PennyRed’s view. Those facts are