Defeat comes before another defeat

In the 2004 movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Bill Murray played the Jacques Cousteau-figure (right down to the red seadog's hat) of which the film, as tribute, was a brave but generally unsuccessful effort at esoteric comedy.  As is my policy, I will not publish a picture of Steve Zissou's appearance here (I expect you to look it up), but it seems that he has given up the life of oceanography for a tilt at the vacant Labour leadership role, swapping his red beanie for a black flat cap.  He has also changed his name to Jeremy Corbyn.
Bearded, white-haired and qualifying for an OAP bus pass, Corbyn has made the Labour battle for top spot come alive.  It has prompted interventions from Tony Blair and special advisor cronies of Blair's, while today John Prescott has rowed back on such pronouncements against Corbyn.  And all the while, the other three challengers seep further into the background.
Corbyn has some eccentric values, let's be clear.  He divorced his wife because she sent their children to a grammar school (a foolish Old Labour obsession that has made the country more elitist as the closing of grammar schools made private schools even more of a must for the middle-class).  He has some Galloway-esque links to Palestinian groups like Hamas.  He believes in a united Ireland (classic case for civil war if ever there was one).  Yet he also has some common-sense ideas like the scrapping of Trident and refusing to let the Tories set the economic narrative as austerity and more austerity (Obama refloated the US economy rather then cutting back and it's doing rather fine, thank you very much).  Renationalising the railways isn't a panacea but the current farrago of franchises must be sorted out.  If Corbyn wears a donkey jacket to the Cenotaph, we'll know his leadership qualities...
Interestingly, Blair attacks those who back Corbyn, saying they prefer the purity of opposition and then goes onto say he would not adopt a left-wing platform, even if it was a guarantee of victory - talk about mixed messages!  John McTernan calls Labour MPs who backed Corbyn 'morons' for wanting a 'diversity of debate'.  If anyone is a moron and an undemocratic one at that, it's McTernan.  Corbyn should not have been allowed into the debate for 'diversity' and for 'the whole Labour party to be represented' - his presence was needed for his philosophy and ideas to be demolished so Labour could appeal to the centre ground as more or less unified.  It's not the fault of those who nominated Corbyn that his opponents are such milquetoasts and can't hold a candle of charisma between them.
Liz Kendall is the best of a bad bunch but she's lagging badly in fourth and we barely hear anything out of her to make her stand out and 'define' herself.  Yvette Cooper is an identikit politician who does not inspire any warmth (is she being badly advised by her husband so he can make a push for leader when he returns to parliament).  And as for Andy Burnham.  The man would lose a charm contest with a mannequin (by the simple expedient of the latter saying nothing) and makes Mitt Romney look like JFK.  He is very much the man who finished fourth out of five in the last Labour leadership campaign in 2010.  Forget Corbyn; with Burnham in charge, Labour are definitely going down to defeat in 2020.  If Corbyn is Michael Foot, then Burnham is (1987) Neil Kinnock.