Why do we have to put up with Malcolm Turnbull? Contemporaries have had to suffer throughout their lives the intermittent bursting upon the scene of this turbulent, restless and needy soul, sucking all of the oxygen out of the air and demanding everyone’s attention for his latest self-aggrandising controversy.

First, it was the Spycatcher trial, then the betrayal of Kerry Packer, then the Turnbull-funded ARM’s attempt to overturn our constitutional monarchy, then the Whitlam Turnbull Bank fall-out, then the manic recruitment of new members to the Wentworth branches, the failures of his stint as Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition (if you...