My years of beers and brotherhood..

The sisters? They came later, remembers Paul Routledge... veteran of 50-something' TUCs

Brighton 2024 is my Bongres 50-somethingth Trades Union Congress and, my, is it different to the old days.

The image, and the reality, has changed. No flat caps, no smoke-filled conference hall and half the delegates are women.

This is a different "parliament of labour", as its champions like to call the show. Even the slogan "Changing the world of work for good" is slicker.

But is it any better? I look back and wonder. Portsmouth 1969 was my baptism with the beer 'n' sandwiches brigade, though I vaguely recall a special conference in Croydon the year before, called to defy Barbara Castle's law reforms.

We were in Pompey at the wish of the outgoing general secretary, delphic George Woodcock, whose majestic eyebrows made Denis Healey jealous.

I confess to bunking off one afternoon to visit the Isle of Wight Festival but it was duller than the TUC debate on equal pay, and that lasted longer than the Trojan Wars.

The 1970s were the heyday of Congress, when membership of trade unions topped 12 million and leaders like Jack Jones of the TGWU, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Tom Jackson of the posties and the NUM's Joe Gormley were household names." But they weren't the best speakers.

That palm goes to Rodney Bickerstaffe, Buddy Holly lookalike, charismatic champion of low-paid public service workers and founder leader of Unison, and Lawrence Daly, brilliant spokesman for the miners.

Arthur Scargill was the greatest ranter but his style wasn't to everybody's taste and he didn't resonate outside conference.

The least riveting was quiet-spoken David Basnett of the GMB, dubbed "the bishop". He was hardly audible, and a good thing too, scoffed critics of his moderate views.

The action then was inside the hall.

The Beeb and ITV screened live debates on controversial issues like anti-union law reform and the restrictive incomes policies so beloved of Tory and Labour governments alike. Remember them?