MR JUSTICE WARBY Approved Judgment Monroe v Hopkins [2017] EWHC 433 (QB) and Ms Penny. But the reader will have taken what Mr Bennett rightly calls the “defiant” Second Tweet to be asserting that this mistake made no difference. Ms Monroe was portrayed as even worse than Ms Penny. By implication, the suggestion was that Ms Monroe also approved of and condoned the vandalism, and shared the views which Ms Hopkins had so clearly deplored. Did the tweets’ meaning(s) have a defamatory tendency? 50. There is no doubt about how Ms Hopkins regards those who vandalise war memorials, and those who condone such behaviour. She has made that clear. But her case is that it is not actionable to suggest that someone condones such behaviour, because such a suggestion is not defamatory as a matter of law. She is entitled to say, and Mr Price is right to submit on her behalf, that a statement about a person’s views is only defamatory if it attributes views that would lower a person in the estimation of “right-thinking people generally”. This old phrase is of course about people who think correctly, and it refers to common standards. It also covers left-thinking people, and those in the middle. In a diverse society, there are many with views of which some people approve and some disapprove. The demands of pluralism in a democratic society make it important to allow room for differing views to be expressed, without fear of paying damages for defamation. Hence, a statement is not defamatory if it would only tend to have an adverse effect on the attitudes to the claimant of a certain section of society. The classic example, though far from this case, is a statement that someone is a “grass” who informs on criminals. That is not defamatory because informing on criminals is generally considered to be a good thing to do. 51. The Judge’s task is not to impose his or her own views. It can be put this way: to determine whether the behaviour or views that the offending statement attributes to a claimant are contrary to common, shared values of our society. This again is a matter for judgment, not a matter for opinion polls or other evidence. It can be difficult. But one test is whether the conduct or view in question is illegal or, by the standards of society as a whole, immoral. In Thornton, Tugendhat J set out an ordering of the varieties of defamation. His summary of “personal defamation” included (at [33(ii)(a)]) “Imputations as to what … would perhaps now be expressed as what is illegal, or unethical or immoral, or socially harmful..” Mr Price relies on this principle, submitting that “No doubt those on the right of the political spectrum may be more or less appalled by such a sentiment, but that is not sufficient to make it defamatory to allege that someone is aligned with it.” The submission is correct, as far as it goes, but rather misses the point. 52. The criminal law can generally be taken as an expression of society’s shared values. As a rule “right-thinking” members of society generally deplore those who commit offences. They also disapprove of those who condone criminality. As Mr Bennett points out, spraying graffiti on public monuments is a criminal offence. It is also socially harmful. Generally, I accept Mr Bennett’s submission that right-thinking members of society generally would regard this as obnoxious behaviour, and would strongly disapprove of anyone who approved or condoned it. There may be exceptions to these general points. But in this case, the suggestion was condonation of the vandalisation of a war memorial commemorating important roles played in World War II. Respect for those who gave their lives, or put themselves in danger, or played roles in the World Wars is a significant aspect of the shared values of our society. Here, the vandalism was carried out to express a political view. But it has not been