Katie Hopkins lost in the libel case that Jack Monroe brought against her. This was a pivotal moment for me. It showed that justice can be obtained in this life.A few short years a rather unpleasant man on Twitter called my wife a paedophile for no reason other than she is gay. He chose her mostly because she is a teacher and thus her life in the classroom has ended. In fact he repeated it several times and continues to do so. Yet when he was prosecuted, the judge should have been recused because he was of the older generation and the judge didn't even know what Twitter was!
The judge simply couldn't understand how Twitter could be compared to publication in newspapers or any other public method and so this rather unpleasant man continues to lie and make rather unpleasant statements about myself and my (now ex) wife.
Jack Monroes victory for me was a watershed moment. While she may already be a well know figure online and certainly now in public, she personifies the average person making the best of what they have, and for a lot of us that's a big deal. When she took that case on , it was also me that was there - it was my right as a casualty of the twittersphere that she was defending and I am grateful for her courage.
I hope that Jack Monroe always remains grounded, remembers that the justice she has achieved is for thousands of the little people who struggle to defend themselves against online bullies, and moreso online bullies with some whack. Because in that approach she will become a national sweetheart.
When a person with six hundred thousand odd followers feels they cannot be knocked down a peg or two and it makes them exempt from apologising, then we need the Jack Monroes of this world.
Thank you Jack. You have set a fabulous precedent.
