ADM - Day 2 (Friday)

Tony Benn at 82 might no longer be an MP but his wit is sharp as a needle and he had the conference roaring.

Wheeled in just after lunch to address his first annual delegate meeting in 58 years as a member of the NUJ - the ADM must have been one of the few forums this inveterate public speaker hadn't addressed - he outlined the importance of the union's work.

"Truth will make you free," he said. And he applauded the work of British journalists - even managing to wring laughs about The Sun's treatment of him ('Benn is bonkers') as it urged voters at a by-election in Chesterfield to kick him out in the 80s. He won by 16,000 votes!

A wide ranging speech scanned 600 years of history - quoting the 1401 Heresy Act (only allowing priests to read the Bible - this was why access to information was paramount) and the verdict of the 1830s writer William Cobbett on the 'enslaved and vile' press of the time. You probably had to be there to but it was a hilarious turn.

As for the rest of the day, well there's no point in trying to list every twist and turn of every argument and list every decision taken on all the issues. But here's a few things that stood out for me (ie I didn't know about them, or they sparked the most debate)

1 General Secretary Jeremy Dear said November 5 will be a huge and vocal protest - a day of action by journalists. Activities will be arranged to coincide with the Society of Editors conference in Manchester.

2 Conference voted narrowly in favour of boycotting Israel goods

3 The BBC reps announced that despite the job cuts at the corporation in the recent turmoil, there had not been a single compulsory redundancy - union activity had succeeded in making great inroads into the degree of suffering of staff as a result.

4 Outsourcing jobs abroad is an increasing concern. David Crouch of the FT said that despite making journalists redundant the FT had recently announced they were creating 'lowly production jobs' in Manila. He warned: "Our members are paying for jobs that are moving to Manila."

5 Former Daily Mail reporter Hal Austin, who is black, said that the number of ethnic minority journalists represented in newsrooms was far too low - and the situation was worse than it was 20 years ago. He urged a 'conversation' to encourage more black representation in newsrooms, pointing out that South London Press which covers Brixton, had no ethnic minority reporters.

6 Freelancer Tim Lezard, formerly of the Gloucester Citizen, said local newspapers were beginning to fail the towns they served. The Citizen had withdrawn its three reporters from the city, moving them to Cheltenham in a bid to cut costs. Inevitably this resulted in good stories being missed. Conference heard that this sort of action by management was being looked at abroad - similar moves had occurred in Norway where union staff had contacted journalists in Britain to swap information on the issue.

That's it for the mo - the above is from my notes and I can put up more once I've gone through the agenda again.

It wasn't all doom and gloom, Tony Benn ensured that. The level of goodwill and energy of all involved so far is a good sign and ever-inventive journos seem to have plenty of answers for the issues some of us will have to confront in the next few years.

Tomorrow, hopefully, Rachael will be posting here.