Lorenzo & Helen Zoom call: I

Link for paid subscribers is below the fold

Hello lovely paid subscribers; you’ll find the link to our first Zoom call below the fold.

If you want to join, you’ll have to take out a paid subscription: the 25 per cent annual subscription discount is still available.

Lorenzo is also sending the same link to his paid subscribers so that everyone who has paid for more Lorenzo can take up the opportunity.

The reason we’re doing this is explained here: TL;DR I’m in the process of unpicking a decades-old cancellation. Flatteringly, my piece was featured on Substack’s “Staff picks” page (at time of writing, it’s the top link), which if nothing else shows the company is willing to pay attention to stories from the rest of the Anglosphere, not just the US and UK.

Apologies for the timing (Saturday at 12 noon BST). I’m in the UK and Lorenzo is in Victoria, Australia (so currently on AEST). This means—if Lorenzo is to get any sleep—a lot of North Americans have to get up early!

There are 100 spaces available. I recognise that—between us—we have more than 100 paid subscribers, but I suspect not all of you will be able to come. If the number of spaces does prove to be an impediment, I will upgrade Zoom in advance of the next call we do.

On the subscriber point, I’m now close to my first 100 subscribers (and thus, the first of Substack’s “ticks”). I’m not sure how they count paid subscriptions towards that verification, but I think I need about five.

So, for those who want to join the call, you know what to do.

For all those who asked: yes, that is a pic of Lorenzo, and yes, that is (at least part) of a suit of armour! This is a requirement for his day job (yes really).

Proposed discussion topics & questions

1. Why are you wearing a suit of armour, Lorenzo?

2. What possessed you to write a biography of Bob Ellis of all people?

3. What do you hope to achieve with your essays/forthcoming book?

4. How bad are things?

5. What are the risks of catastrophising?

Bonus Lorenzo talking point for paid subscribers:

My view is that when the West adopted meritorious appointment by examination from China in the mid-19th century, this timing meant we’ve now had 150 years of effective bureaucracy (“good dynastic rule” in Chinese terms). We’re now living through a period where the effects of selecting for capacity but not character—and the pathologies of bureaucracy—have become dominant and things spiral downwards (“dynastic decline”).