Recently Louise has championed the case of Ali Al Khawahir, the 24 years old Saudi man who as a boy of 14 stabbed and permanently paralysed another young boy. After 10 years in prison, a Saudi court ruled Al Khawahir is to pay a deyaa (a compensation usually paid to victims of crime or their families by the offenders or their families) of 1M Saudi Riyals (equivalent to £177,000). Failing that Al Khawahir is sentenced to be surgically paralysed (an eye for an eye) by cutting his spinal cord.

As a Muslim, I know of al deyaa concept but never before heard of anyone being surgically paralysed as equal punishment. Furthermore, Islamic courts are guided by compassion and shura (consultation). So I am rather surprised no one in the whole of Saudi Arabia has yet pleaded for this young man’s mercy or put up the full amount of al deyaa, another Islamic tradition.

For days now Louise has been tweeting and talking about this issue. This morning on BBC Radio 5 she condemned the sentence and scolded our government for not doing more than the basic, common standard diplomatic protocol in the matter, of condemning it. Which surprises me a bit, as not long ago Mensch herself was an MP and should know how these things work. Saudi Arabia is one of the UK’s biggest strategic allies and trading partners in the region. If our government (regardless of political hue) is unhappy with what they did/are doing, they are not going to blast them for it publicly. It will be done tactfully and quietly. And for all we know they might have already done it. So for a former Conservative MP to go on radio and Twitter calling for William Hague ‘and not some unknown FCO personal’ to have some kind of huge announcement is unrealistic and overconfident.

But what really surprised me in all of this, Louise has over 76000 followers on Twitter, yet she never considered using her Twitter clout to raise the £177,000 deyaa and confidently save the young Ali Al Khawahir from permanent paralyses! Because he will only have the surgery if he/his family fail to raise the funds (that is unless the king or the victim’s family pardons him).

Nadine is wrong in attacking Louise for supporting the Sun’s decision to publish Prince Harry’s naked photos. One, because the photos were already in the public domain and all the Sun did was make them available for their readers and those who might not have access to Internet but wanted to see them. They (the Sun) did not judge the prince or his actions nor did they force the photos on anyone to see them, they just provided a service by making them publicly available for those who wanted to view them.

And, two, yes Prince Harry is free to live and enjoy his life, but guess what? People are also free to want to stick their nose in his business since he is a public figure! If we go down the line of “Harry did not have a choice on what family he was born into….” Tough! None of us did, but most of us daily deal with whatever our dynasty throws at us.

I am a royalist to no end; I too, was heartbroken by Diana’s death. I never cried for a public figure’s death before (and never since until Michael Jackson’s tragic death) but I wept for Diana and moarned her death for her and the two young princes, and, because it also reminded me of my own mortality, and the possibility of leaving my girls (who are much younger than William and Harry) motherless. As a mother, I too understand that kids need continued guidance and in some cases they need monitored guidance the kind only mothers can do well.

I will not go into the private room scenario, or talk about cameras /phones, or an army officer prince letting his hair down or even the security aspect of it all, because none of them are the issue. The only issue here is, those photos were already out all over the world and therefore became of interest for the UK public. They wanted to see them and deserved to. The Sun, as I mentioned before, did not force them on anyone. Plus judging from the number of official complaints (in the region of 150,000) verses newspaper sales (millions of copies) we can safely say the Sun was right to publish them.

That puts me and Louise on the same page, siding with the Sun publishing Prince Harry’s Photos. Where I disagree with Louise is first in the timing of her resignation. She could not have picked a worst time to quit her seat and trigger a by – election. An intelligent media savvy woman, she, should have known, especially as an A’Listers that resigning mid cycle, was never going to go down well. The A’List and A’Listers are still a hot topic and in some party circles they are looked at suspiciously by members and grassroots. Plus Louise is already accused by some for being an attention seeking, limelight grabbing opportunist. Don’t get me wrong as a mother myself I support and even applaud her decision, to admit she could not cope and put her family first is nothing but admirable. My problem is with the timing of it. Especially as both Louise and her family have already endured the hardships of the job for over two years, therefore, why not just wait a few more months and resign in Christmas (I know it looks like a long time and her kids will miss the start of the school year) but resigning at the end of 2012, after the Police Commissioners elections are out of the way, and hopefully the party is polling better and CCHQ has a fuller list of possible candidates and is preparing for the 2015 general election would have been a much more considerate timing.

Secondly and here is where I am most puzzled. Prime Minster David Cameron, in Louise’s own words has been extremely gracious, supportive and accommodating to her and her family’s needs. According to her, he allowed her to work from home on Thursdays and she was permitted to excuse herself for the school run during a nationally televised Select Committee hearing…

Won’t waiting until Christmas have been a better way to reciprocate his kindness and indulgence? I mean it is not hard for anyone to see he is under extreme pressure now and one less problem might have help ease it just a little.

Not being facetious, but Louise Mensch resigning her parliamentary seat midway in the parliamentary cycle, to be with her family, although admirable it should at the same time serve as a wake-up call. Especially to young women who want a career in parliament. Since Cameron became a leader there seem to be this obsession with youth, aesthetics and of course a little fame. All three tend to cut both ways; they all can be an asset yet equally a hindrance.

After failing to get selected as a parliamentary candidate, like most people who fall short of achieving their dreams, I licked my wounded pride and reassessed my situation. I will be lying if I said I did not ask ‘why me?’ or compared my failure to others’ success, because I did both.

Let me just put it out there!

Besides not being your typical Tory candidate (Oxbridge connections, a little money and some record of high achievement) I started my quest for political office later than most, because, as a single parent, it was the right time for my family and me. I will never forget when Women2Win put me in touch with two mentors. The first told me I started too late and if I did not make the first tranche of the A’list (which was leaked out two days after that meeting) then I am as good as out of the race! And when I said: “but I thought my experience and teen family is an asset” – she smiled and shook her head; no. We had only the one meeting and I never saw her again. But became best friends with my second mentor, Dame Marion Row, a woman I owe so much to her wisdom and continued support and even though my political dream has since been extinguished our friendship is very alive.

I always though becoming an MP was about giving back from one’s life experiences; thus bringing into parliament a diverse collection of expertise! That’s why I never understood the obsession with the ultra-young becoming parliamentarians.

Louise stepping down shows she is a balanced and brave woman. Balanced because she sees the potential damage sacrificing her family life might have on them, and she is brave admitting it and not pretending otherwise. For that she deserves our respect and admiration.

But what about the other young MPs who weekly leave their young families behind for possibly days, or the ones who put off having families for the job? Parliament work can be extremely demanding and not many spouses can deal alone with family commitments or being away from their other half. There is no shame in admitting you made a mistake and rectifying it, the shame is in pretending you are a superwoman when you are only human.