| Wednesday, May 16, 2012 6:00 AM

For a man who claims he's not at all bent out of shape by what he describes as the media being in a more aggressive and hostile mood towards us, State Homie John Key spent quite a lot of time talking about it.

He reckons the change of attitude from the Fourth Estate was to be expected, he'd been forewarned about it by his political Nemesis, Dead Girl Helen when his Government was sworn in last year. She was there as a former Prime Minister, he told his audience.

She told him media treatment in the first term of Government was okay, the second term was disastrous and the third term was diabolical. The Homie concluded that's just what happens, pressure comes on and the media becomes more antagonistic.

For a start the Dead Girl wasn't at his swearing in last year, she was in the Big Apple looking after the world's woes at the United Nations. But she would have been there three years before as the outgoing Prime Minister.

But at least they can now console each other, they've both received the same sort of treatment which surely says one thing, the media's even handed and is pretty consistent.

The fact that a second term of Government's always perceived by those in the top job as operating in a more hostile environment could have something to do with the fact that the media get to know them a bit better. The first term's always an exercise of paying the electorate back for electing them.

The second term is when the rubber hits the road and they have to make some fairly tough decisions and the current crop are certainly no exception to that.

A zero Budget next week, the partial sale of state assets, welfare reform and a growing gap between the haves and have nots were always going to be issues that'd burst any honeymoon bubble.

The media can't be blamed for people taking to the streets in their thousands and they can't be blamed for reporting the events either.

The Homie can take solace in the fact that he remains the darling of the political pollsters but then so too was The Dead Girl at this stage of her Prime Ministerial career.

She was at the time credited with having a Teflon coat, although she was never confronted with the severity of the issues facing her successor.

So clearly his coat's armour even if it is a little dented!

Photo: John Key (Getty Images)