And the tension grows between English and Key...

You could just about taste the tension emanating from Bill English's mouth on Q and A yesterday and it wasn't sweet.

The two have disagreed publicly on when New Zealand will emerge from the recession and on the face of it that's not a big deal...except when you hear Bill English's very courteous and contained comments when asked why they aren't towing the same line on the economy.

Asked about the difference, Mr English said Mr Key "has always had a very positive view about New Zealand. I certainly wouldn't want to say he is wrong but he is setting a high hurdle here and it's our job as a Government to meet those expectations - that's a feature of John Key's leadership."

The body language says it all and so it should. Bill English is probably a very frustrated man right now. He's the one who has to deal with the sops while Key gets to meet, greet and shear the sheep.

Key is politically naive whereas English has suffered from his previous leadership of the party. How disappointing it must be then for him to have run the country behind the scenes, sort the rubbish and wonder what could have been had he only waited his turn for the leadership.

Me thinks the National party decry to much that there is not a rift growing between these two. Whenever a party feels forced to defend a situation you can bet that there's something that's caught fire in the background.

Although these two do not represent in any way the philosophy of the Lange/Douglas era, they do share something else in common...a cooling off of their friendship that could be disastrous for the party as a whole.

Contractors among the first to suffer recession in agriculture

Contractors up and down the country are reporting a dismal season across the board. Although farming has not yet been hit dramatically by the recession (apart from the decreasing dairy pay-out) it seems farmers have been tightening their belts and deciding not to hire cultivators and fertiliser spreaders, in favour of doing it themselves.

Locally many contractors have said they have had the quietest January/February for many years and March has only marginally been better.

The upshot of this is that we may see some contractors forced out of the industry, jobs lost, and less money floating about rural townships - which would be a further blow to the economy as the Government is looking particularly to the rural sector for growth.

Let's hope the situation improves.