They had wanted to turn the Union into a talking shop for Full-time Students Union officers, pushing it even further from the hands of ordinary students, and yet, to many people's dismay, the news this afternoon from Blackpool's Wintergardens is that the unthinkable has indeed happened. This turn of events might not return the Union to its former days as an effective mobiliser of thousands of students, but it gives hope to those who really do want a fighting Union.