A Halloween horror story from the Scottish Labour conference

"Take a fresh look," is the underwhelming but probably realistic conference slogan beamed across the stage and even, unsettlingly, into the gents' loos.

It has taken a narrow defeat in 2007, a thumping one in 2011 and a catastrophe in May this year for the party's demise to sink in, but Scottish Labour's sense of entitlement, the assumption the SNP bubble would burst sooner or later and normal service would resume, has now finally evaporated.

There is lot of talk of starting from scratch, of rebuilding from grassroots community activity at the party's first gathering since Kezia Dugdale became leader.

If that sounds hard work (and it is) there is also plenty of reassuring nostalgia about Keir Hardie and 100 years of history. Scottish Labour can't die, activists seem to be telling themselves. Can it?

The hope, of course, is that the 'new politics' of Jeremy Corbyn will persuade people to take that fresh look at Labour.

The UK leader was warmly received on his arrival at the venue, beneath a red umbrella and accompanied by Ms Dugdale. He was cheered to the rafters when he appeared on stage a few hours later.

Activists applauded loudly when he promised "the sunshine of socialism" (quoting Keir Hardie again), when he reminded them of his "strong mandate to change our party," and when he proudly described Labour as a "democratic socialist party".

Labour's plan to take on the SNP from the left at next May's Holyrood election could not be clearer, and if you were in any doubt Ms Dugdale later unveiled plans to use Holyrood's new financial powers to reverse Conservative tax credit cuts. For many party activists, this was exactly what they want to hear: a genuinely left-wing agenda which they believe will expose the SNP as pretendy radicals and begin, at least, to win back voters who have abandoned Labour.

But the main theme of Mr Corbyn's speech was solidarity, and here it gets complicated.

Delegates clapped heartily when he told them solidarity would drive the party forward. For them, solidarity with the rest of the UK and the rest of the world is the polar opposite of the despised "narrow nationalism" of the SNP.

It's also an important value to stress as Scottish and UK Labour loosen their ties.

The big talking point for many Labour folk this weekend is how Scottish Labour can become fully autonomous within UK Labour without weakening the solidarity between comrades north and south of the Border. And without accepting the Nationalists' narrative of a Scotland that, politically, has become irreconcilably different from the rest of the UK.

It's a balancing act the party has not yet figured out - and members know it.

One influential activist - a strong supporter of the move - admitted: "It comes dangerously close to trying to out-Nat the Nats, which would be a catastrophic strategy."

That's not the only potential problem.

Tomorrow's debate on Trident, backed overwhelmingly by both local parties and affiliated unions, illustrates just how messy things might become.

If, as expected, Scottish Labour votes to oppose Trident renewal, its position will be at odds with the UK party. Incidentally, it also means the Scottish leader will oppose her party's position just as Mr Corbyn opposes UK Labour's support for Trident.

How will Labour explain this to voters come the next UK election in 2020? And how would it work in practice? What, exactly, would Scottish Labour MPs be mandated to do when they (if the plural is not too generous) take their seats on the green benches?

Ms Dugdale has acknowledged the need to resolve these questions but the mechanisms and procedures required would seem to be a long way off.

If a system emerges that simply over-rules Scottish Labour policies, it will not look like much of a solution and with the SNP launching daily attacks on Labour as "divided and in disarray," the party might not have as long as it hopes to work out its new structures.

As my activist friend put it: "It looks messy because it is messy."