MR JUSTICE WARBY Approved Judgment Monroe v Hopkins [2017] EWHC 433 (QB) makes rude remarks about the claimant after publication also made rude remarks about her before. (8) Another variant of this point is put forward: that those who engaged with the tweets were users who were already strongly supportive of Ms Monroe, or strongly opposed to her; in summary, people “whose opinions of the parties can’t be shifted.” This comes dangerously close to evidence of bad reputation by the back door. Besides, I am not convinced that this is how people actually think, at least not in the mass. A person can have a low opinion of another, and yet the other’s reputation can be harmed by a fresh defamatory allegation. An example is provided by serious allegations made against a politician of a rival party. I have recently held that it does not follow from the fact that a publishee is a political opponent of the claimant, that they will think no worse of the claimant if told that he or she has covered up sexual abuse: Barron v Collins [2017] EWHC 162 (QB) [56]. The same line of reasoning is applicable to the different facts of this case. As Mr Bennett puts it, if someone is hated for their sexuality or their left-wing views, that does not mean they cannot be libelled by being accused of condoning the vandalisation of a war memorial. It can add to the list of reasons to revile her. (9) Ms Monroe’s own responses on Twitter. These are said to have mitigated harm by making her position clear. There are several difficulties with this contention. One is that denials are not at all the same thing as corrections, retractions or apologies. The response of the accused is inherently unlikely to undo the damage caused initially. A second, and probably more significant point, is that Ms Monroe had no access to the followers of Ms Hopkins. The fact that the overlap in their followers was so small tends to undermine this submission. (10)National and international media coverage of the tweets complained of, Ms Monroe’s reaction to them, “and the matter generally” on 19 May 2015. Nine articles are relied on. Three are in mainstream English newspapers (Metro, The Mirror and The Independent). The others are in the Belfast Telegraph, the Huffington Post, and a range of lesser known outlets. All are said to have been published “within hours”. I am invited to infer that their publication meant that anyone with an interest in either party will have become aware that Ms Hopkins had made a mistake, Ms Monroe denied having vandalised anything, and intended to sue, that there was no attempt to justify what had been said. It is also suggested, in mitigation, that readers of these media would have realised that “the claimant considered that she could make £5,000 in damages because of the tweets” (sic). This last contention seems to me offensive in its formulation, implying that compensation would be some kind of gain for the claimant. Otherwise, I would not attach any great weight to this point. The majority of the media coverage was in publications of the left, and it is not likely there was a substantial overlap with the defendant’s own readership. The coverage did not amount to an authoritative or comprehensive refutation of the original allegation. As Mr Bennett points out, there was a potentially harmful impact of this publication, as it brought the whole matter to the attention of a fresh audience. (11)The defendant’s tweet of 2 June 2015. This was several weeks later, early in the morning. It was not self-explanatory. It was inconspicuous and carried no apology. It was sent as a reply, and hence to the common followers only.