My Take | Hong Kong's tragedy is lack of leadership as youngsters run the show

What irony! The most recognised and popular political grouping in Hong Kong at the moment is not even a political party. And it is run by a bunch of kids.

The Federation of Students is now ahead of all the mainstream political parties, thanks to the "umbrella revolution". To realise the seismic change this mass movement has started, you only need to look at the latest survey by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme.

"All political groups have become losers in the Occupy movement," said survey director Robert Chung Ting-yiu.

The pan-democratic Civic Party, Democratic Party, Labour Party and the Confederation of Trade Unions, as well as the more pro-government Federation of Trade Unions and Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, have all recorded the lowest ratings anyone can remember.

Interestingly, the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions is now the city's second most popular group, followed by the Liberal Party. Funnily enough, that was probably thanks to James Tien Pei-chun, who had to quit as the Liberal Party's chairman after being stripped of his membership as a Beijing adviser for calling on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to consider resigning.

Of course, you hardly need a survey to know all this. Our veteran politicians have been running around like headless chickens. The three men who brought us Occupy Central - Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Dr Chan Kin-man - have practically disappeared from the scene, proving themselves, despite their impressive academic credentials, to be completely out of their depth.