Irish Interruption and a bid from Berlin: Last weekend LSE (John Ashbourne and Anser Aftab) won the Oxford IV, with Erasmus (Daniel Springer and Jeroen Heun) taking home the ESL title. Over 120 teams had come to take part in one of the most prestigious debating competition of the year. This year’s CA’s Ben Jasper (EUDC finalist 2008 in Tallinn) and Shengwu Li (EUDC champion 2009 in Newcastle), with DCA Jo Farmer (EUDC finalist 2009) set interesting motions and topics for debate, and despite the usual Oxford difficulties of a last minute dash to Wadham College for your round, the weekend went well.

This year Oxford ran seven minute speeches for all the pre-break rounds, which was welcomed by speakers wanting to prepare for Worlds, but also caused a logistical challenge for the organisers, one which resulted in the final being a little later than usual. The atmosphere of the Oxford final, with the now annual Irish interruption was brilliant though, and debating in and around the Union is always a great experience.

Another important part of this year’s Oxford IV, as it has been over the past few years, was the announcement of the Berlin bid to host Worlds in 2013. The team from Berlin showed a video announcing their bid. Many people are still keen to hear about the CA team and registration fee, but it’s good to know that the Berlin bid is coming along, and the distribution of business cards which will let those who were at Oxford claim a free drink on the first night of the competition was a nice touch.

The debates were challenging but interesting, and the variety of topics gave everyone a favourite. Overall it was a great balance between current topics, and nice twists on more established topics. Particular highlights for me were the Quarterfinal speech on piracy by Doug Cochran (EUDC finalist 2007 in Koç) which was one of the best seven minutes of debating I have ever seen.

Steven Nolan / apf / glx

Steven Nolan, born in 1984, studied law at Galway and Cork universities and works now for the English Speaking Union. He was runner-up at Euros 2007 in Koç, Turkey, and has gained a reputation as judge, being appointed deputy chief adjudicator at EUDC 2011 in Galway, Ireland. If you want to meet Steven in VDCH country, go see him at the Vienna IV in March next year where he will be CA along with Isabelle Loewe and Manos Moschopoulos.

The Oxford Union is probably the most famous debating union in the world. They draw a lot of attention to their house by inviting illustrious and controversial guest speakers. Usually, they stand out due to high registration fees and low comfort – which they can afford by the reputation of the society and their tournaments. If one believes those who have been there, one will not only encounter the worst acoustic conditions in their famous “Union Chamber” and the most inconvenient accommodation, but also the most outstanding socials with people from all over the world and eminent English speaking debaters.