Unemployment is an ugly word.

It's something that haunts the mind of all low paid or expendable workers in a society - you're job security only lasts as long as the bubble does. With today's announcement of a large increase in unemployment (standing, I believe, at 5.7% today) this can only mean bad things for those amongst us who are not privileged enough to have jobs that only renew themselves upon mishap or election.

I seem to recall mentioning the figure of 28% in this blog in the past. That's the estimated percentage of people in Hyndburn who are, as the Office of National Statistics so roughly puts it, "Economically Inactive". The higher that number, the more people within Hyndburn who do not work. That is a number that is significantly above average for Lancashire, and indeed for the entire North West. Increasing unemployment will only hit this figure harder. The Government has been ignoring the true policies in recent months - their key role is for the benefit of the people, not the "taxpayer", and in this they can only be described, at least in my local area, as failing in a level that is only fairly described as criminally incompetant. Unemployment does not hit areas of highest employment hardest, it hits the areas of lowest employment - where jobs are already in high demand and there is a lack of demand for the services those jobs create in the local area. Accrington is best known for three things - the Accrington Pals, Accrington Stanley and Accrington Brick. The first's memory will never be forgotten, but Accrington Brick - or NORI Brick as it's more often known, is dead. The plant only employed 80 people, but they're all to be laid off at the end of October. I could count off the lists of employers that have closed in Accrington, the number rapidly approaching 1,000 jobs lost in the last 3 years.

Accrington is not a town that is well known for it's political activity. But with all these changes, it is increasingly turning away from the conventional parties, towards, primarily, the British National Party. Unemployment will only drive my town further down that path.