So here I am back at work after a long weekend. At home things are great in the garden. My wisteria has burst into life, my sage has a beautiful display of purple flowers and my grapevine is sprouting leaves daily.

Meanwhile yesterday I was off on bereavement leave as I farewelled a friend who was a very strong influence on me early in my broadcasting career. A man who fertilised a love or words and humour. The man who introduced me to the technical nuance of Monty Python and a man who had no enemies in the whole world.

So the mixture of Spring and sadness has kept me away from the hurly burly of the news. But that said almost every moment I looked at the news there was always one word in the headlines and that word is petrol.

It shows you just how pivotal this hydrocarbon derivative has become to the functioning of human civilisation. Petrol, water, food and shelter. The four pillars of life.

For days our country has been buzzing about the price of petrol. It’s all been said and I have little to add. But I will say this.

Firstly, the price of barrel of oil goes up and it goes down. But taxes know only one way and that’s up. By taking aim at the petrol companies margins I believe that Jacinda Ardern has made a mistake because what’s sauce for the gander is also sauce for the goose. It was an exercise in blame shifting that if successful will force future governments to take similar measures with their margins. In other words is Jacinda Ardern brave enough to do what she’s asking the petrol companies to do. Well no-one is.

Nor is this a trait of a Labour government. Excise duties are scheduled years in advance by every government. Like I say petrol goes up and down but taxes only ever go up.

But as we turn ourselves insides out about the price of petrol it hid the real stories of change that this government supports. 

Firstly they released a 54 page report of how to manage our water with the aim of making rivers swimmable. 98 per cent of our rivers exist in rural areas so guess who this impacts the most. The 3000 farmers in this country are mentioned far more than the 2 million city dwellers pouring heavy metals into our seas.

Secondly the IPCC released their latest report into climate change which suggests if we don’t all change our ways completely in the next decade the children of our children will be living in a microwave.

Last night the BBC asked people on the street whether they were prepared to accept 5 changes immediately. They were asked would they cut out beef? Move to a smaller home? Don’t drive small distances? Cut down on heating? Share your car?

So ask yourself what would you do? And how worried should we be after decades of intensive dairying and cow population growth in this country how we feel about the first choice.

You may or may not believe in the impact of climate change based on human activity.  But things will change whether you like it or not and despite the fact that we are relatively clean and green in this world it may be that our cows are going to pay a heavy price. That’s worth thinking about.