Jonah Brown’s industrial curse continues to wreak havoc across the nation:

During his visit Mr Brown also commented briefly on the current problems facing the car industry and Honda in Swindon. “We are working with all parties involved to improve the situation to help safeguard car production jobs and improve financing options for car buyers”

SwindonLife, January 9, 2009

Honda, Japan’s second-biggest carmaker, will tonight be mothballing its plant in Swindon, where the majority of its 4,200 British employees are based, in response to a slump in car sales. British workers at Honda will start an enforced four-month lay-off today against the backdrop of a further dire warning over the trading outlook from the Japanese car giant.

The Times, January 30, 2009

Velux Windows in Glenrothes was subjected to a visit from Jonah last October during the by-election campaign. Gordon congratulated them on their success. (ITN footage of soon to be sacked workers shaking Jonah’s hand.) Yesterday Keith Riddle, managing director of The Velux Company Limited, said: “Unfortunately we are making a number of redundancies and are currently in the consultation process with the people affected. It is expected that around half of the job losses will be made in Glenrothes, with the rest being spread around the UK and Ireland. Be warned, whether your business is large or small, if Jonah Brown comes, doom will follow…

UPDATE : Radioactive Jonah – “Because the future is nuclear, it is only right that Gordon should take a personal interest in the way our installations operate. And thus he went to Sellafield last week. So far, so good. There was, we now learn, a little local difficulty on the day the PM came to call: a radioactive leak that meant a walkway had to be cordoned off and a building closed. The whole thing is now the subject of a board of inquiry but it didn’t spoil his trip.”

Source: Guardian Diary