One swallow...

Tweet I can understand why Plaid's political opponents are making so much fuss about this month's rise in unemployment in Wales, given that a number of my colleagues were so quick to seize on the good figures for the previous two months.

It was, perhaps, a bit premature for people to read too much into one month's figures, or even two months' figures, and I held back from doing so. Not because I don't think that Re-Act and Pro-Act are good schemes, nor because I don't think that the One Wales Government is, on the whole, doing a good job during the recession. In fact, there's a general consensus that One Wales is doing pretty well, within the limited economic powers available to it, and Plaid can take some pride in the performance of Ieuan Wyn Jones on the issue.

But a recession, and the recovery from it, is a complex business. Progress will never be smooth and even, and we should expect bad months as well as good ones. Those seizing on one month's bad figures as are misguided as those seizing on one month's good figures. The real test is in overall performance, and how well Wales fares over the whole period compared to the rest of the UK.

On that score, so far, One Wales seems to me to be successfully tackling the issue.