Raw emotion in Armagh
I've been covering the SDLP conference in Armagh today. Unlike the Ulster Unionists, who had David Cameron as a star turn at their gathering, the SDLP did not have any rabbits to pull out of their hats. Dermot Ahern sat in the audience, as one of a number of observers, but any prospect of a Fianna Fail merger is now dead in the water.
Instead the party seemed to be concentrating on its core values, stressing that it is the party people can trust to deliver in Stormont, Westminster and Europe. Margaret Ritchie was again the SDLP supporters' darling, whilst Alban Maginness (campaign slogan Maginness is good for EU) kick started his Euro campaign. Introduced by Gerry Conlon as "a man who stays true to his word", Mark Durkan put in a solid performance, less impassioned than he has been in the past.
His best cracks were about Bairbre De Brun (some want to challenge her record as an MEP, "but that might be seen as attacking someone's private life") and the DUP's choice of a candidate ("an unprecedented, radical departure. Let's run an MP's wife").
Despite all of this, the SDLP will face an uphill struggle reclaiming its European seat, given the likely contest between Sinn Fein and the DUP to top the poll. Although it is undoubtedly true that the party is far more pro Europe than the incumbents, appeals to the legacy of John Hume sound like the same old story.
Outside the main conference hall the headlines are likely to be captured by the raw emotion on display from Paul Quinn's mother, Briege, at a fringe meeting. She talked about how every bone in her son's body had been broken by his murderers, and how despite the denials from Conor Murphy and Gerry Adams she remained convinced the IRA carried out the killing.
Wiping tears away from her face, Mrs Quinn talked of how she thought of the shed where her son was tortured and killed every minute of every day and would never get it out of her mind.
As the political discussion concentrates on the Eames Bradley proposals about how to deal with the past, it was a vivid reminder that for people like Briege Quinn who have lost someone in tragic circumstances the past is the present.
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