Holding up the mirror: Windschuttle, me, and the provocateur on trial

At school I had an English teacher called Mr Doyle. Many years later I saw him on telly, leading the Victorian Liberal Party to its worst-ever defeat. Poor Mr Doyle. But Mr Doyle soon re-emerged from history's dustbin, and now serves as the much maligned mayor of Melbourne. 'You're an idiot, Doyle,' wrote loudmouth columnist Catherine Deveney in the Age. A man 'with ambition, but no talent … 100% charisma-free, idea-resistant and void of all traces of originality'. Yet as my teacher, Mr Doyle wasn't the pompous, slack-jawed tosser Victorians voted against. Or thought they did. He was a corker; a spunky, charismatic idealist who infected his students with passion. [Introduction]