Nick Clegg, you can't go on about diversity and continue to pass over women

What a rubbish week this has been. Nothing has been as bad for me as the passage of the Welfare Reform Bill, a true nadir in the life of this Government, but it's not good to see one of your own people have to resign from the Cabinet.

Whatever you think of Chris Huhne, and to be honest, I was never his biggest fan for all sorts of reasons, anyone else facing the same charges in any other job would not be sacked until after the Court case. Unfortunately for him, if he'd stayed in post, every time he tried to do something, the media would bring the impending trial up and he'd be completely paralysed. The principle of innocent until proven guilty is an important one and it's getting lost in all of this.

This post is going to be less furious than I originally thought, but only a little. When I heard this morning on the news that Ed Davey was likely to be promoted into Chris Huhne's old job and Norman Lamb head for BIS, I was livid. Not because I have anything against either of them - they are two of our brightest MPs, but not the only ones who deserve promotion.  Simply, Nick Clegg had the opportunity to do something about the appallingly bad gender balance of the Government.

Of our 20 ministers, only two are women, Lynne Featherstone and Sarah Teather. Why not promote Lynne to the Energy and Climate Change job and replace her with Jo Swinson? Lynne is one of the most successful ministers in the Government. There is a strong argument, however, that she should stay where she is because of that but Jo could easily have taken her place at the Home Office. The Lovely Elephant made the case for promoting our talented women much more eloquently than I could.

Two women have, of course, been promoted as a result of this forced reshuffle, but to behind the scenes posts. Jenny Willott becomes an assistant whip, lurking in the dark shadows with nobody to see her skills except Liberal Democrat MPs, while Jo Swinson moves from being Vince's PPS at BIS to being Nick Clegg's. That gives her a much greater overview of Government, but I'd have been much happier to see her with her own profile.

What is the point of promoting diversity, having a fancy Leadership Programme if at every chance you get you give jobs to middle class, middle aged white men?

Actually, when I think about it, I am every bit as furious as I was earlier.

Jenny Willott lives on State Pension for a week

Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Willott has been living on the basic State Pension of £95.25 this week, a huge change from her normal salary of her current gross weekly income as an MP of £1245.50.

She's doing it to highlight how difficult it is to manage to live on such a low income. She's recounting her experiences here on Twitter. It's well worth having a look at some of the basic choices she's having to make. She talked about buying a cheap tin of soup for lunch but then realising there was no tin opener in the office and having to nip out and get one. Most poignantly, she realises how hard it is to buy something as simple as a Remembrance poppy:

"My Remembrance poppy is looking tatty and I need a new one. I appreciate now it's a much bigger sacrifice to buy one as a pensioner."

I guess the other thing to think about is that Jenny is getting the full State Pension whereas many women don't qualify for even that paltry amount because they either worked part time, took time out to have children or look after elderly relatives. Some may have been badly advised decades ago and made decisions that it is now impossible to rectify because nobody will take responsiblity for the mistake.

This week Liberal Democrat Pensions Spokesman Steve Webb wrote in Liberal Democrat News about his fight to obtain justice for women who have been let down by the Pensions system.

He told how he had brought individual cases to the Government's attention and identified that 150,000 wome had missed out on help of around £2000 each because they had not received the Home Responsibilities Protection to which they were entitled from 1978 onwards.

He also identified that some women had not been notified of a special scheme to help those born between 1938 and 1944 boost their pensions in certain circumstances. The government agreed to contact the women concerned and they are likely to receive, between them, millions in a Pensions boost that they were rightfully entitled to.

It's appalling that women have borne the brunt of caring duties, saving the Government a fortune in many cases and then been kicked in the teeth when it comes to receiving even the most basic of State help in their old age. And before anyone reminds me about the Pension Credit, it's not that great and many people who are entitled to it don't claim often because they don't know about it. It's good that we have Steve to fight so tenaciously on their behalf.