DELEGATES at the SDLP's 26th annual conference will gather in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, this evening to engage in debate at a time when there is deep public uncertainty about what is going on in Northern Ireland politics, where any Northern politician honestly stands, and what the future holds.
The cynic will remark: "What else is new?" But it is a pity that the SDLP intends to add to the general and growing cult of political suspicion, secrecy and rumour by holding some of its key debates in private.
The North is already awash with covert contacts and veiled conduct of public affairs. The Stormont talks are fenced off and confidential - with occasional selective leaks and biased versions from some of the participants.
The Unionists deal with Mr John Major in private; Mr John Hume holds mysterious meetings with Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Adams has backroom meetings with the IRA; Mr David Trimble has secluded talks with Mr Billy Wright at Drumcree; stalking horses abound and no statement can be taken at face value.
It is little wonder that the public mood is distrustful and jittery and that the public conduct of party affairs is overshadowed by private speculation and suspicion of secret agendas.
In this atmosphere, and given the perception that party unity is the single paramount recourse in circumstances of uncertainty, the SDLP conference will, as is customary, extend a resounding endorsement of Mr Hume's leadership while expecting few, if any, details of what is actually going on.
Similarly, the conference is expected to agree - behind closed doors - to leave the formation and conduct of electoral strategy, including the question of special arrangements with Sinn Fein, to the party leadership to decide as it sees fit.
There is just one resolution for debate in open session condemning the IRA's return to violence. This may reflect the uncertainty surrounding the Hume Adams contacts, the prospects of a reinstatement of the IRA ceasefire, and the unknown factor of a possible electoral arrangement with Sinn Fein in the forthcoming British general election.
In private session, however, there will undoubtedly be some passionate exchanges on these topics - as there were in public at last year's conference.
There will be speculation also, though it may not emerge in the debates, as to whether and when the party leader will decide to, relinquish the dual mandate and identify Mr Mark Durkan as the heir apparent for his Westminster seat.
The real interest, of course, lies in how the party will handle its future relationship with Sinn Fein, both for purely pragmatic electoral purposes and also in relation to core policy.
Last year's conference demonstrated that the SDLP is sharply divided on such matters, with a substantial minority favouring practical arrangements to maximise nationalist representation, and others manifesting deeply held convictions that, on principle, there should be no treating with a party so closely linked to republican violence.
Last year, with the political process bogged down and deteriorating, Mr Hume was more cautious and concentrated his address on the need for "respect for diversity".
This weekend, in the present situation of profound uncertainty and considerable pessimism, he will be hard put to give solid grounds for hope.