Katie Hopkins applies for insolvency agreement to avoid bankruptcy theguardian.com/media/2018/sep… - a short thread on Katie, the law, and how this all might have been avoided if she hadn’t been so trigger-happy with the block button...
You see, Katie blocked me a long, long time ago. Before all this blew up. Not because of anything I tweeted to her, but because *a lot* of people were pointing her in my direction...
Katie, as you know, is no stranger to controversy, and she had tweeted something of dubious legality, the details of which I cannot for the life of me remember. Anyhow, a few people were pointing out she was on a sticky wicket...
My name popped up in a few of their tweets as they told her she needed to do one of my law refresher courses. I think she must have got fed up of this because she blocked everyone, including me, even though I hadn’t entered the discussion. C’est la vie...
Some time after this her exchange with @BootstrapCook occurred, which in turn led to the events above and her eventual libel loss in the High Court, and the costs award which has led to her IVA...
As karma would have it though, she ended up working for LBC, and they brought me in to do law refreshers for everyone, including Katy. She was perfectly personable and after she took me to one side and said: “I think I’ve done everything wrong you’ve just told us about.”...
I’m not sure about the everything, but by that stage she had committed the libel that led Jack Monroe to sue her. Whether attending one of my sessions a little earlier would have avoided this, I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t have done any harm.
Anyhow, a few morals to this story. Firstly, Jack Monroe sued on a no-win, no-fee agreement - anyone can sue for libel, it is n longer rich man’s law. Secondly if you’ve got it wrong and a claimant offers you a cheap way out, as Jack did to Katy, take it...
And finally, at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, if the world and his wife are telling you you’ve got the law wrong and you need to go on one of my courses, do it. I am definitely cheaper than a day in the High Court. Here endeth the lesson.
