Philip

2011, Arab Spring, $127.

for the kind of work that they have to do.

2014, Libyan civil war, $111.

Can they ever be electrified?

Could you even get maybe a hybrid model?

2022, Russia invades Ukraine, $122.

Well, the answer, if you ask the big traditional brands, that question is no, not for a long time.

$117 a barrel during this war, though it is at $95 today.

The answer, though, if you ask the Chinese is, of course, what colour would you like it in?

So...

Do we keep on muddling along, pushing businesses to breaking point, tempers to boiling point and passing the bill to the taxpayer?

Rob McNaughton is importing one brand of Chinese hybrid battery tractor into Ireland.

Now, Zoom line, he joins me this morning.

Or should we spend this morning's programme exploring ways to wean ourselves off a clearly silly way of doing business if there are alternatives?

Good morning, Rob.

morning, Philip.

How many different kinds of Zoom Lion tractor are you going to be selling?

It is slurry spreading season.

Tractors running up and down fields for hours on end, sucking diesel from dawn till dusk.

So I spent some time this week with a contractor who specialises in slurry spreading to see what impact Trump's war in Iran and the government's three quarters of a billion euro subvention was having on his ability to stay in business.