“PRESIDENT, Conference, fellow masons…”

Cue laughter in the hall as London FBU secretary Paul Embery kicked off a series of proposed amendments to the union’s statement on Europe and international solidarity.

The first changed the word “on” to “of.” I did wonder for a second if the London delegation had blundered with their own amendment and actually wanted to correct “on” to “off.” Now that would make a substantive amendment indeed.

But in fact it seemed more of a benevolent gesture to correct a typo — and so this amendment, at least, won the executive’s generous support.

That’s the expertise you get in a specialist craft union. This was the same disgruntled crowd I’d heard muttering “fewer!”

when general secretary Matt Wrack told a strike rally that service cuts would see “less firefighters saving lives” earlier this year.

But this is the great age of union mergers — the latest being Bectu and Prospect. If the FBU is looking for a bedfellow, perhaps they should try the Writers’ Guild?