I don't mean to sound like one of nature's political optimists because I'm not; rather the contrary. But though Labour is currently plumbing depths that go ever deeper without finding a point of rest, I do think that current talk of its possibly heading for terminal oblivion is premature. I offer no analysis in support of that scepticism. It's just that if a week is a long time in politics, so are five years and then ten years. I remember a close friend, and one who knew the history of these things much better than I do, lamenting after one of Labour's more miserable defeats during the Thatcher era, and worrying that it might never recover. Maybe this time it wouldn't; but it's too soon to say.