Something truly lovely happened in this afternoon’s plenary session. Our plenaries simply couldn’t function without our ushers. They make sure our members have all the papers that they need – amendments, opinions, travel forms… They also pamper us all, bringing rapporteurs their voting machines when they forget them, bringing coffee or tea for the flagging President and Secretary General, replacing nameplates, and so on. They are also very modest and retiring. At one point this afternoon two ushers were on the Presidential podium and our President, Staffan Nilsson, spontaneously called for a round of applause for all of the ushers. The members enthusiastically responded with a round of applause that surely lasted close to two minutes. The ushers didn’t know what to do with themselves but, truly, the applause was richly deserved.  It was a real feel good moment. The picture with this post sums up the relationship. A rapporteur (Richard Adams, Various Interests, UK) is being ‘pampered’ by one of our faithful ushers, Mohammed Achab. The smiles say it all.