A new leader will do little for the SDLP unless it adopts a new approach to politics. For 20 years it has failed to realise that if you keep doing the same thing, while getting an increasingly worse result, perhaps you should try something different.

A new leader is not different. It just means a different somebody doing the same old thing and getting the same result.

The party has a choice: die or change. By refusing to change, it has so far opted for death and, in fairness, it is making good progress in that direction.

The initial soundings from leader-elect Claire Hanna suggests more of the same. She offers a “compelling message of optimism and clarity of purpose”, while working harder “to resonate with people”.

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In 2004, Mark Durkan promised “determination to renew, rebuild and regain”, by “rising to the challenge of change”. In 2010, Margaret Richie looked forward “with hope, optimism and creativity” because, she said, “the work of the SDLP is a noble calling”. (That made party membership sound like a religious vocation. It may be coming close to that these........

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