His predecessor Cheryl Gillian told us a great deal during her time in office but she assumed those she spoke to knew the geography of Wales: a nation not an island .

The cabinet reshuffle that brought David Jones the post of Welsh Secretary was likened to the tale of a mountain in labour which after much travail brought forth a mouse.

Reference to mice has of late been levelled at the conservative leadership and if the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Mr Jones lives up to expectation the pest control officer will remain on the sidelines.

Perhaps Ms Gillian made too many mistakes -her opposition to a high speed line running through her constituency was one.
It was certainly well publicised and didn't endear itself to voters here despite the protestations of Conservative Assembly Leader that she had been "a hard working Secretary of State who has delivered on her commitments with great determination."

Deliver or perhaps deliverance may well be the operative word here.

In the course of our conversation he said: "In Wales we don't shout about ourselves enough.
Welsh people are reticent when it comes promoting themselves and the talents they have."

The criticism is, I believe, a fair one and nowhere is it better exemplified than in the world of business.
There is still that legacy, a relic from the late 19th and well into the 20th century that business was for those who couldn't qualify for one of the great professions - law, medicine or teaching.
There is the apocryphal story of the Welsh mother whose son becomes Prime Minister.
When congratulated by a neighbour she replies:" Oh yes he's Prime Minister but his brother is a doctor."

There was and perhaps still is, an antipathy to commerce though no doubt this has diminished over the last 30 years.
With the demise of the grammar schools where commerce was viewed as an anathema their comprehensive successors have worked hard to encourage pupils, not deemed 'academic' to pursue courses that would suit them for life in the workplace.

The industrialist I spoke to was one such person.
A school leaver at 16 by 18 he had set his sights on starting his own business and by 2003 he had done just that.
He has worked assiduously to realise his dream and the work goes on- a relentless pursuit of commercial success which it has to be since failure isn't an option.
And there are plenty more like him though their businesses may be on a greater or lesser scale.

Which brings me to the impending publication of the Fast Growth 50 for 2012.
This is a compendium, compiled by Professor Dylan Jones -Evans, of those companies head quartered in Wales, which have demonstrated entrepreneurial and innovative potential.

First published in 1999 the Fast Growth 50 has become a barometer for monitoring the impact of small high-growth companies whose performance is an integral part of the Welsh economy.

The Professor is not given to self publicity preferring instead to let his publication do the talking for him and that's exactly what it does.
It is the rallying call from the battlements of Welsh commerce that my industrialist friend spoke about.

At a time when Wales needs its entrepreneurs more than ever we have a chronicle of what can be achieved within our borders and within our economy.

In addition to this £185m investment the company is also creating a £55m gas-cooling system both of which are indicative of Tata's commitment to the works, the town and indirectly to Wales

When Tata bought the steel making operation from Corus in 2010 I was sceptical about its intentions.
In my mind's eye I saw Tata's management descend on Margam, assimilate the technology and when this was done a new plant would be built somewhere south of Mumbai.

I was wrong and some months ago had the opportunity to say as much to a member of the Tata family.

Unfortunately a company like Tata doesn't operate in isolation and has to face the challenges presented by the global market for steel.

China, the world's biggest steel producer, is exporting at the highest level in two years, exacerbating a global glut that may hurt competitors.
Chinese steel mills, set for a record production in 2012, are ramping up overseas sales to avoid a softer domestic market, where prices for the commodity have dropped to a two-year low.

Ratan Tata, the company's chairman said in his letter to shareholders: "While Tata Steel's operations in India are expected to remain strong, its operations in Europe will continue to be under enormous stress for the next year or two until the Western European economy recovers,"

So it's not surprising that Dr Köhler should call on the coalition government to match Tata's commitment by creating a climate for economic growth.

Recent GDP figures show the economy is in recession raising fears of a downward spiral which would suggest the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not doing that at present.
Indeed, one wonders what he is doing, when not contemplating his appalling gaffe over the pasty tax.

Mr Osborne knows that electricity bills for UK manufacturers are higher than other key nations.
Dr Köhler knows this and wants something done.

Barely a mile from Number 4 Blast Furnace lies the Kenfig Industrial Estate where a company called Matida's Planet operates out of the old Borg Warner plant.
Set up by David Evans, a London Welshman, who has returned to the land of his father's, Matilda's Planet develops and produces devices that harvest, conserve or reduce the use of energy.

The company's latest project is a revolutionary new wind turbine which will provide power for lighting St George's Wharf, one of London's new high-rise towers.

Now there is, in all this, a certain irony.
The First Minister has written to Business Secretary Vince Cable about the effect of energy prices on big industrial manufacturers and we hang breathless on the fate of this missive.

Mr Evans believes the Welsh Government could be doing more to assist companies such as his. Trying to get grants he described as "a frustrating process" with "paperwork legion."

Matilda's Planet is a business the Welsh Government can and should help.

Tata is beyond the reach of those in Cardiff Bay and will pursue its own strategy irrespective of who runs the Welsh economy.

The voice from Baden-Württemberg will be heard again and what it says will impact on Port Talbot and Wales but will be done irrespective of what views are held by our First Minister.

Reporters on the hop don't often get to speak to men of such intellect so what they have to say sticks in the mind.

I was fortunate to conduct a short interview with him before formal proceedings began.

"We are really at the beginning of evolution not the end," Lord Rees told me
"People tend to feel humans are the end of evolution but the time line ahead is at least as long as the time up until now. We can see ourselves on this precious, blue dot in the cosmos as being a stage in an evolution that will be more wonderful and varied in the future here on earth and far beyond."

Science, he explained, is part of our common culture irrespective of nationality or religion. In particular astronomy is the most universal of all since everyone has looked up at the sky and wondered about it. We have done that and so have our ancestors.

For Lord Rees the cosmos is a part of our environment that everyone has shared and how we have come to understand its scale and its evolution far better.
We are, he explained, part of an evolution that has gone on for a billion years so we now know the earth itself is part of a cosmic evolution which has been going on since the so called big bang 14 billion years ago.

However, there are many things we don't understand -we don't understand how life began on earth, we have no idea if life is likely to be widespread in the universe and we don't know if we will ever understand the mysteries of the Big Bang some of which may be beyond what human brains can understand.

But we have made progress in understanding our place in nature and that the universe is much more interesting than we could expect. When we look at the sky we used think of stars as just points of light.

In the last 10 years we have learned that most of then are orbited by retinues of planets just like the sun is orbited by the earth and other planets.
So when we look up at the sky we are looking at zillions of planetary systems.

His conclusion was: We don't yet know whether there is life on any of those so we don't yet know whether there is a universe teeming with life or whether despite the vastness of the universe, earth is a very special place.

Lord Rees delivered his lecturer in the presence of First Minister Carwyn Jones and the Emeritus First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, who is the Morgan in Morgan Botti.
Carwyn spoke for many when he said his own achievement in the world of science was passing O Level with a C/B - proof positive of a higher grade.
Wales, he said, had produced eminent people in many fields but had not been so good at broadcasting that fact.
It was events such as this that showed Wales could host such an occasion with so eminent a speaker.
We want people to come to Wales not because its cheap, it isn't, but we have a skills base appropriate to the needs of business and a government ready to offer support to them,

History remembers him as the former head of the Welsh Tourist Board whose life changed irrevocably when it was subsumed into the Welsh Government's civil service in 2005.

Prior to this Jon provided a rich seam of information to journalists on the tourist industry along with his vivid account of the night the Sea Empress ran aground at the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire, in February 1996.

So graphic was it that one listener said afterwards "You could hear the waves crashing, the gulls complaining and the oil lapping the beach."

All this of course was prior to his becoming a civil servant when his reminiscences dried up.
He had, as Graham Green once said "passed through the green baize door," the dividing line, in this case, between two domains, the public and private sectors,
After 2005 he would loudly proclaim "I can't talk to you now. I'm a civil servant."

"Conticuere omnes."

So what are we to make of this appointment.
It has long been argued, by those who live, move and have their being in London, that the road to Wales starts here -a commercial highway that leads to Cardiff and not the yellow brick road to the Emerald City.

It must however be remembered that Jonathan is no stranger to London.
In the early 1970s he was Essex man incarnate, shaped by the Ford Motor Company in darkest Dagenham.
After time spent in Amsterdam, in the service of the British Tourist Authority, he returned to London before becoming Overseas Marketing Director, Senior Marketing Director, Communications Director at the Wales Tourist Board from 1984-99.

Ever ready to draw a historical parallel some London Welsh observers have seen this appointment in terms of banishment rather than promotion.
.
Jon's passing is like the passing of Arthur - shrouded in mystery.
Is he returning to the Avalon he discovered in his youth or perhaps reprising his role as regional liaison manager to the British Travel Association based London.

Whatever the end may be we wish him well.
The spotlight will be constantly on him as the diaspora examine the results of his labours.
To satisfy those who have questioned his appointment and may themselves have been overlooked these cannot come too soon.

When asked what his speciality was he said "survival."
The hope is this character summation proves correct.

Bonds that bind Wales and India are already strong and well established, he is reported as saying.

The purpose of his visit is to strengthen further the open, positive, relationship between the two nations while there are no illusions that Wales is but one of many nations vying for the attention of India in the hope of generating more business, education and cultural links.

To an observer of the business landscape the easiest way to do this would be to press the Indian Government to appoint a Consul for Wales, something I understood would have been done two years ago.

At a reception in Lord Mayor of Cardiff's official residence the Indian High Commissioner assured me and others that an appointment was imminent.
In fact he went as far as saying a candidate had been chosen and his appointment a mere formality.

Since then nothing has happened and one can ask whether the wanderings of a disparate band of politicians, academics and captains of industry will hasten this.

Wales has so much to offer India the First Minister said, citing top-class education facilities, a highly skilled workforce and excellent opportunities for Indian businesses and investors to set up their European operations here in Wales.

What he didn't say was that Wales is now in competition with other UK regions in search of what is the commercial Holy Grail of inward investment and there is no divine right that companies east or west of Suez should set up their stalls here.

Last month he was in America (No Consul in Wales) and another round of package events promoting business, tourism and cultural links.

"Wonderful", one Welsh hotel owner said.
"But what about increasing the tourist budget so we can compete with Ireland and Scotland on a level playing field."

Level playing fields it seems are not within the remit of the Welsh Government. Perhaps they believe our businesses compete on those fields that the cartoonist Gren drew where only sherpa's from Nepal felt at home.

Soon our Oisin will return from his journey, hopefully without heavy heart and a wandering mind.
We will then enjoy the fruits of his travails and travels or else resign ourselves to what is no country for old men.
Unfortunately no country for young men either.

I

Here in Cardiff the Central Business District zone will focus on financial services, and these diverse announcements came together to reminded me of a visit I made to the Shard in the company of Russell Harris QC,the man behind some of the biggest property developments in London.

On a visit he made to Cardiff some months ago I remember Mr Harris looking up at the Cardiff skyline and saying: "The easiest way for any city to transform itself is through the promotion of an enlightened spatial development policy which means getting the right high quality buildings and key land uses in the right places. If this can be achieved in Cardiff, it will be a place where more people will want to set up business, want to work, and want to live and play. It will become an engine of growth for the Welsh economy as a whole."

Now seems an appropriate time to ask how what is happening in London can be rolled out into Wales?

Mr Harris' view was: "The thing about London is that it is a world city, probably the world city not withstanding the recession. What you have in Wales is a very new capital city that heads up a devolved government confident in itself and in areas like the arts and sport. Now if a world city like London is not shy of going to the big European and world names like Renzo Piano (the Shard's architect) to create masterpieces and large chunks of townscape that people will enjoy, then it seems to me Cardiff shouldn't be either."

Going into the specifics, he said: "What we have in Cardiff is some very good set-piece architectural projects like the Wales Millennium Centre, the new School of Music and Drama, the Millennium Stadium. Unfortunately they are all isolated in terms of the quality they bring to their environment. They are set pieces within a very small setting and what you don't have is an overall plan for large parts of Cardiff that will make a difference."

He added: "The new shopping centre works well but in architectural terms is not a masterpiece. When I leave the station the skyline I look at is very unimpressive. You have the Millennium Stadium in front of you then there's nothing else. If you turn around over the top of the station which should, in any sustainable city, be the main location for a high-quality sense of place, there is nothing, just the bus station in front, fields of car parking behind and some very undistinguished mid-rise buildings."

His argument is if London can bring some of those high quality, place-changing architects to sprinkle their magic, then why can't Cardiff?

The impact of architecture on regeneration, he contends, has been shown to be huge. It's worked in Manchester and it could work in Cardiff if we have the quality of architecture, the location and function the city calls for.

So the message to Cardiff is don't be shy to bring in world-class expertise for what should be a world-class city, with a dedicated business quarter, the architecture of which brings with it a sense of quality and place.

Ultimately, Mr Harris acknowledges, it all boils down to money. But as he points out, such developments have proved drivers of investment in some of London's most deprived boroughs.

This is of course vision 'con brio' while setting up enterprise zones around the country isn't exactly visionary and neither is having sector heads, distinguished though they be, to run them a guarantee of success.

"As the seat of a devolved government the challenge now is for Cardiff to push itself further into another rank of European cities," Mr Harris said.

The Shard, with its glass and gleaming steel will, says its architect reflect the beating heart of a city.
What the buildings of Cardiff's financial quarter will reflect must lie in the eyes of the beholders but whether the anonymous rectangles that exist there now will attract occupiers of which the city can be proud is imponderable.

In the words of Russell Harris they should be part of a policy to create a vibrant and ambitious capital, the heart of a successful city region and the best hope that Wales has to drag itself out of recession.

In this, as in all things, only time will tell.

The strife is not quite over nor the battle won but England have been vanquished and Wales are on its way to a Grand Slam and to becoming six nations champions.

Off course mealy-mouthed English supporters and commentators would deny our national team the credit they deserve but we can live with that. So hard for them to accept that the game they gave the world doesn't bring with it a divine right to be six nations champions.

One respected Anglo-Saxon rugby administrator sent me the following text message.
"Lucky Taffs or what . So much for this vaulted Welsh wizardry.
Young maestros ?
Pah!
We showed them up. An English moral victory for sure."

This was from a man whose judgement and advice I would unhesitatingly take on matters of business national and international. So you can see how much beating a Welsh team means - it takes the reason prisoner. In this case one can agree with Ophelia and say "what a noble mind is here o'erthrown."

Another day, another venue.
The oval ball becomes round and a Welsh team, regarded by many as the Forlorn Hope, take on the once mighty Liverpool.
Cardiff City didn't win but gave their Premiership opponents the full nine yards when it came to courage and commitment.
Unfortunately as the loyal supporters, who made the journey to that wasteland called Wembley, have discovered there is no second act in professional sport.

Somewhere between victory and defeat there is a lesson which those in the world of business and politics can learn from.
Men who inspire their players manage both teams.
This is called leadership and currently leadership is the Holy Grail after which academics, business gurus and would be captains of industry search.

Politicians believe this is an innate quality they possess as of right just as we presume the clergyman owns the road map to heaven.

In a recent Wales Leadership Survey, undertaken by Cardiff Metropolitan University and the Leading Wales Awards, 55% of those questioned believed that leaders were born, not made. That survey also found only 50% of people questioned could name two or more Welsh leaders
In addition, almost 40% said they were very dissatisfied with the performance of their own business leaders, including their decision-making.
It would, perhaps, have been interesting to find what they thought of their political leaders.

Many leaders, concedes Professor Brian Morgan of Cardiff Metropolitan University, are born with great qualities - but the most successful also acknowledge that to become the best possible front runner they also have much to learn.

We can only hope that those who order the affairs of this nation are not going to take instruction from Francesco Schettino, master of the stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia.

Unfortunately the circumstances under which we met were far from propitious.

As they say in a theatrical programme the scene is a railway platform, at Cardiff Central Station, the time early evening.
Crowds of hopeful travellers are huddled together against a chill wind and an empty train stands
motionless alongside them.

From out of the darkness comes a voice informing them that the onward journey to Swansea has been cancelled
and they must await further information.

Among the expectant crowd, gazing up at the information boards, as though they carried news of the second coming,
is the First Minister accompanied by a cabinet colleague.
He stands unperturbed by the milling throng with their bags and baggage, before turning to face the questioner.

R Ll J: Well Sir! Can you make the trains run on time?
FM: I could if they were ours.
R Ll J: It seems there has been a fatality at the Severn Tunnel and two trains are stacked up there as a consequence.
This one has to turn round and go back to London.

A train manager walks down the platform clearly unhappy at the state of affairs.
Train Manager: No need for this -no need at all. Two trains behind they could use one of those for London but London is a priority.

The First Minister remains unperturbed. The crowd around him grows larger as the evicted passengers are joined by a wave of commuters.
A phone rings close at hand. The First Minister's companion answers it and calls him to one side.

A short conversation ensues. When it's over he turns and reveals what it was about.

First Minister: It seems we have a car waiting for us. Goodbye.

He and his cabinet colleague go off together to the waiting car as the voice from the darkness announces.
Voice: First Great Western apologises for the delay to passengers travelling to Swansea and regrets any inconvenience this may cause.

Travellers resign themselves to a protracted wait here and for some a further delay in Swansea.
Carwyn & Co speed off into the night, secure in the knowledge that a seat in the National Assembly transcends a first class ride courtesy of First Great Western.

But all glory, as Mr Johnson has since discovered, is transitory.
The disastrous expedition to New Zealand saw dwarves being thrown instead of punches and a South Sea islander believing he could walk on water.
Then there was the ignominy of defeat at the hands of France in the quarter finals and the exhumation of Wavell Wakefield who was found to have turned.

So it's with renewed confidence that Welsh supporters can descend on this West London suburb, which for so long was a bastion of English rugby-dominance fortress built not by nature but the RFU for itself.

To those who will take the direct route over the Severn Bridge and along the M4 a word of caution. The good book tells that " broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction," and ways don't come broader than the motorway.
So may suggest an alternative route - one that will take supporters through the sleepy Cotswold villages of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

After an early start it will be a stop for breakfast that will have a country flavour far removed from the synthetic, mass produced meals of motorway service stations.
Call at the aptly named "Inn for all Seasons" near Burford, astride the A40, a fine hostelry with a rugby ambience.
Here, for a brief moment, rugby men and women can reflect on the day ahead and savour the delights of joys to come.

Then it's on to the Oxford bypass, which offers no glimpse of the cities dreaming spires, if such they are, before joining the M40, which in turn leads to that most perilous of highways the M24 before leaving to join again the M4 and so on to Twickenham
invigorated by that excursion into the Anglo Saxon heartland.

Fortified by a little Brains or a taste of Tomos Watkin a Welsh supporter can take his or her seat amongst that county set, who have dined in the West car park from hampers purchased at Fortnum & Mason and served from the boot of Landrover's latest model.

Of course nothing is certain.
Fate, Chance, Kings and 22 desperate Englishmen may rob us of the ultimate prize.
If that happens there is always the direct road home and a toll to pay at the Severn Bridge as a penance.

But our cause is just and we have been taught - "the just shall live by faith."