Foot-and-mouth threatened to de-rail the government

Wales' farming community, already under siege, was one of the early casualties and for a time places like Anglesey was sanitised and isolated.

It was the first big test for Agriculture Minister, Carwyn Jones, who would go on to have a 'good war' and at the end of it emerge as a candidate for ministerial promotion.

When it came the general election proved to be desperately dull. Politicians were failing to engage with the public.

However, all that changed in Rhyl one fine May evening when the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, connected with the electorate in the most dramatic way.

An egg and a punch transformed the campaign.

For a brief moment the carefully orchestrated Labour battle plan threatened to implode, but the media were kind; the public understood and Millbank breathed a sigh of relief. It was only John!

The Prescott punch incident connected with the electorate

It was also an eventful start for another minister. Mike German, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Welsh Assembly and Deputy First Minister in the coalition partnership, was also under pressure.

His difficulty had nothing to do with his new title and responsibilities, but with his old job as head of the European unit at the WJEC - Wales' examination board

He was accused of misuse of a business credit card - an accusation he has always denied - and there was a damning report on mismanagement in his old department.

Mr. German came under sustained pressure to stand aside from his job while the police and the European fraud squad investigated the allegations.

Eventually, in the summer, he stood aside from his cabinet duties, saying he would return once the police inquiry had been completed and his name cleared.

The inquiry is still going on; Mr German is still out of the cabinet and the pressure on the coalition increases.

Mike German was forced to stand aside from cabinet duties

It also meant that First Minister Rhodri Morgan had to take over Mr. German's economic development duties, earning himself the title of Two Jobs Morgan - a jibe he bitterly resents.

The new devolved administration in Wales likes to think that it has been doing things differently over the last year. You bet it has.

There was no finer example of this than the way it set about building the country's latest prestige edifice - the debating chamber of the National Assembly.

Ten million pounds was spent sinking the foundations for the new chamber in Cardiff Bay.

Unfortunately, that was as far as it got before the Finance Minister, the formidable Edwina Hart, sacked the world-renowned architect Richard Rogers, in a row over escalating costs.

Lord Rogers became embroiled in a bitter feud

The most bitter of public feuds continues unabated and Lord Rogers now finds himself in the unusual position of teaming up with another consortium bidding to finish his own creation.

Just when things in Cardiff Bay appeared to be settling down, the First Minister dropped an end of the year bombshell.

He wanted to change the name of his new home from the official National Assembly for Wales to plain old Welsh Assembly.

Not only that he issued an edict: henceforth the executive would be known as the Welsh Assembly Government.

The acronym for the above wasn't lost on a senior civil servant who issued an instruction to his staff.

On no account were they to refer to it as WAG.

Too late Minister.