KCL win Birmingham IV
Winners of the Birmingham IV – Alberto Polimeni (left) and Joel Richardson (right) – © Tom Davies (Instagram @tomdgriff)
Congratulations to ‘KCL Straits of Malaca’ (Alberto Polimeni and Joel Richardson) for winning the Birmingham IV! They won the final from Opening Government defeating ‘Too early for a midlife crisis’ (Dean Foley, Manchester, and Matthew Oldham, former Lancaster) in Opening Opposition, ‘Bulgaro-Serbian school of political correctness’ (Radko Nedyalkov, UCL, and Monica Naydenova, Sofia University) in Closing Government, and ‘Durham B’ (Tim Sharpe and Martha Muir) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would nationalise Facebook and Twitter’.
The Final was judged by Mark Wilson in the chair, and Owen Mooney, Rosalie Butcher, Nicole Lui, and Nisha Telesford on the panel.
The Top Speaker of the tournament was Dean Foley with an average of 79.4. The Birmingham IV Chief Adjudicators were Owen Mooney, Bethany Garry, and Mackenzie Tse and was convened by Dan Wood.
The tournament took place on December 9th and 10th. Due to snow, many participants of Day One were unable to attend for Day Two. But at least it made the setting very pretty!
Several participants enjoying the snow! © Tom Davies (Instagram @tomdgriff)
The Break:
- Never too early for a mid-life crisis (Dean Foley, Manchester, Matthew Oldham, formerly Lancaster) – 11 Points
- Annoying Gay & Bimbo 2014-Present (Matt Hankin, Cambridge, Ciara Mitchell, LSE) – 11 Points
- Are Asian voices less persuasive, or are we just UCL A? (Neo Wei Sheng, Leo Yung) – 11 Points
- Bulgaro-Serbian school of political correctness (Radko Nedyalkov, UCL, Monica Naydenova, Sofia University) – 11 Points
- Andrew Why Are You Making Me Do This? (Gavin Tucker, TCD, Andrew Seow, Oxford) – 10 Points
- KCL Straits of Malaka (Alberto Polimeni, Joel Richardson) – 10 Points
- Durham B (Tim Sharpe, Martha Muir) – 10 Points
- Warwick GJ (Jamie Baross, Georgie Friend) – 10 Points
Judge Break: Bethany Garry, Owen Mooney, Mackenzie Tse, Alex Deam, Aisling Tully, David MacDonald, Mark Wilson, Nicole Liu, John Fairclough, Tommy Cave, Rosie Butcher, Nisha Telesford, Rayne Goddard, Shreyasi Deshpande, Shaq Scott-Davis
The Motions:
R1: This House regrets the rise of mega-cities.
Info text: Mega-cities are urban centres with extremely high population density, and a total population in excess of 10 million. Examples include Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, Jakarta and Delhi.
R2: This House believes that state support for the film industry (tax relief, subsidies, free access to public spaces etc.) should only apply to original works, and not reboots, sequels or re-interpretations of existing media.
R3: This House believes that female music stars should emphasise a community of women with duties to one another over individual success.
R4: This House regrets the focus of criticism of the Iraq war on the war’s legality.
Info text: The Iraq War refers to the 2003 invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein by a US led coalition. The legality of the war was ambiguous, with initial claims of Iraq possessing WMDs being unfounded, but crimes of aggression not being recognised as war crimes by the ICC.
R5: This House believes that the west should sanction Saudi Arabia over its war in Yemen.
Info text: The Yemeni Civil War is a conflict that began in 2015 between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia has intervened to support the Yemeni government against the Houthis, with a bombing campaign, naval blockade, and troop deployments. The intervention has been widely condemned for the conduct of Saudi forces, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, and held responsible for sparking a major humanitarian crisis.
Semi-Final: This House would prefer a world in which the media, including online and social media, did not report on the ideological and religious positions of terrorists.
Final: This House would nationalise Facebook and Twitter.
cmc./lok.
