Frank Manning: Why do Conservative women like Louise Mensch, Nadine Dorries and Margaret Thatcher receive such vitriolic abuse?

Frank Manning is the Campaigns Coordinator for the Young Britons' Foundation, a non-partisan, not-for-profit educational, research and training organisation that promotes conservatism in schools, colleges and universities. Follow Frank on Twitter. 

After the spectacle of the televised Culture, Media and Sport committee meeting on Tuesday, the usual MPs were trending on Twitter. Tom Watson, continuing on his insatiable obsession with everything Murdoch related is always likely to be a big draw. He clearly enjoys seeing himself as the plucky upstart fighting against the evil empire of News Corp.

He was not the most talked about MP on Tuesday though. Outside of the Westminster bubble, few people recognise him and even fewer appreciate his self-aggrandising speeches and self-promotion. Instead, the assorted ranks of Twitter were still discussing Louise Mensch, MP for Corby. The hatred directed at her from the left-wing is truly shocking, even for Twitter - never a great resource for reasonably, courteous debate.

So why does Mrs Mensch attract such vitriolic hatred? One of the most recognisable faces of the 2010 intake of Conservative MPs, her striking looks and lively past have led to a large media profile.  Along with this come the inevitable downsides, including negative articles and near-constant abuse on social media. This reached a frightening climax when Mensch received threats to the safety of her children. The man responsible was eventually apprehended and charged, but I wonder whether Twitter encourages unhinged people like this to go even further than they would normally, egged on by the hatred they see in their timeline.

Frank Manning: Should Ed Miliband be using the terminally ill and victims of serious crimes to score political points at PMQs?

Frank Manning is a researcher at Big Brother Watch, the campaign for civil liberties and online privacy. He tweets at @billymanning.

On Wednesday, Ed Miliband again utilised his morally contentious plan of using highly emotive topics to improve his lacklustre Prime Minister’s Questions performances. After using cancer patients to make a point about benefits last week, he chose the sensitive subject of rape to bring up the topic of the national DNA database.

Yet Miliband has spent more than a year trying to declare himself a staunch supporter of civil liberties and distance himself from the intrusive style of government of the Labour Party under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. It is worth remembering that if Labour had won the last election, we would currently all be enjoying our new hideously expensive ID Cards, while there is a strong possibility they would have attempted to extend the limit for detention without charge to 42 days once again.

The one thing this tactic does prove is that Miliband is not quite finished yet. After watching their leader get taken to the cleaners week after week by the professional approach which Cameron brings to the dispatch box, someone in his team realised a different approach was necessary. By bringing up emotive, sensitive topics Miliband forces Cameron to change tack, removing his ability to make jokes and mock him. It seems unlikely the Prime Minister will allow himself to be ambushed like this for a third time.