What we’re about
Despite the media’s relentless focus on all that is lamentable, and your own knowledge of what is indeed a sorry state of affairs internationally, you still find yourself drawn to (quality) world news, and the desire to discuss it.
You are engaged in the state of humanity (and all life), and you know what we are capable of - in the positive, peaceful sense. You know the promise we all carry. You are less ego these days, more mindful, and the journey can lead to a wider lens.
At the same time, you know that, in the present, we need to meet the world where it is, and any positive projection of the future, is a collective endeavour, if it is to be ‘successful’ (as defined by those impacted) and enduring.
But you also know, our minds often sit in patterns established in the past. The light of new ways of seeing can help us to consider new ways of showing up in this world, and may lead us to consider future potential with a more expansive mindset. Light can be shed in unexpected ways.
And yet, we are also conscious of the graveyard of unintended consequences in such complex matters as international relations.
And yet, coffee?
With a relaxed group of people with similar interests?
Place - Cambridge UK, in-person, somewhere it’s not too noisy, and the coffee/tea is good. If too few people fit this profile of interests, we'll shift to online or hybrid.
Prep - At the first meeting (Sep 23, 2023) we played a thought experiment looking back from the future and the exercise helped us to identify the *topics for future meetings (*topics to be added shortly). Links to brief well-chosen big-picture quality reading materials (free of jargon) will be distributed a week before future meetings by members. Anyone attending a meeting is encouraged to read the material, in advance of a meeting, in order to facilitate a more enjoyable discussion by all. All members are considered, by default, to be "time-poor" busy people, and links will be carefully selected with this understanding. It should be very quick (and interesting!) to consume the material.
Please note - In a warm and welcoming atmosphere, we value a thoughtful, genuine, respectful and open exchange of ideas, and not getting personal. We care about the wider world, the freedom for all life to flourish without causing harm, and we value diversity and our shared home. We treat all discussion/content as strictly confidential (unless clearly-specified information or images are agreed as shareable and on what basis). We value fairness, and common courtesy, and avoid language or behaviour that might cause offence. We value evidence, science, public service, democracy with all its flaws, ethical business, human rights, and responsible journalism. This is not at all the place for apologists for authoritarian governance, nor conspiracy theory proselytisers. And that ‘please note’ is a hard please note.
Why "The Entresol Club"?
The name is inspired by the French original (early 18th century) - the Club de l'Entresol - where the thoughtful met on the mezzanine floor of a Paris townhouse (entresol is mezzanine in French) and discussed matters of import, especially foreign affairs. It was eventually shut down due to its growing influence by France's chief minister. A more recent local simpler version, with the same name, was a brief cross-party researchers club which met on the (kind-of) mezzanine floor of Portcullis House in Westminster and focused on long-term policy issues.
