The LSE team Line of Control (Hamza Tariq Chaudhry, Mythili Mishra) has won the Manchester IV 2019. Out of Closing Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government Moral Metrics and Shit (Arth Mishra, Josh Ashworth, LSE), Opening Opposition Oxford present and rejected (Abhinav Bathula, Jamie Johnson; LSE/Oxford) and Closing Government something something toxic masculinity (Ciara Mitchell, Cheyenne Ong; LSE). The motion for the grand final read "THBT the scientific community should reject the view that science and religion are non-overlapping magisteria (incl. infoslide)". The final was judged by Jacklin Kwan (chair), Jason Woods, Joel Richardson, John Karellis, Maurice Coutiel, Rosie Vorri and ...

Once again the anglophone World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) took place during the turn of the year. This year's location was Mexico City. The tournament started the 27.12.17 and ended the 04.01.18. After nine preliminary rounds the teams breaking to the outrounds were announced on New Year's Eve. At the WUDC, teams participate classified as one of three language categories: EPL (English as a Proficient Language), ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). EPL-classified teams can only participate in the Open Break, ESL-teams depending on their ranking either in the Open Break oder the ...

Oxford TS (Andrew Seow and Teck Wei Tan) won the Newcastle IV 2017 from Closing Opposition on the motion "This house supports the increasing secularisation of the world". The Newcastle IV 2017 took place on 25th and 26th November 2017. In the Open Final Oxford TS debated against St Andrews Sausage Bean and Cheese Melt (Ruth Batten and Duncan Bowyer) in Opening Government, Manchester was out of team spots (Jacklin Kwan and Rudolfs Treilis) in Opening Opposition and Sheffield SS (Areeb Sherwani and Leon Stone) in Closing Opposition. The panel came to an unanimous decision. The final was judged by Chris ...

The Cambridge IV 2017 preliminary rounds concluded similar to the Oxford IV, with Tel Aviv AD again breaking first, this time on 13 points. Dan Lahav again topped the open speaker tab - this time accompanied by Darion Hotan of KCL A, both averaging an 83.6 that begged belief. Dan Lahav was once again the top ESL speaker. Xavier Redmond, of Oxford RK, was the top novice speaker with an average of 79. In the final round, Tel Aviv AD (Ayal Hayut-Man, Dan Lahav) won from Opening Government defending the motion that "This house believes that it is always immoral to ...

[caption id="attachment_32163" align="alignright" width="400"] The GUU delegation at the Durham Open with winners Bethany Garry (standing) and Owen Mooney (green shirt) - © GUU[/caption] The Durham Open 2017 was won by GUU A (Bethany Garry and Owen Mooney) in Opening Opposition on an open motion. They debated against Consider Phlebas (Sam van Elk, Cambridge and Joe Roussos, LSE) in Opening Government, Oxford RJ (Jure Hederih and Raffy Marshall) in Closing Government and Cambridge E (Camilo Ruiz and Matt Hankin) in Closing Opposition. The final was judged by Kez Exley (C) Dee Courtney, Aislin Flynn, Rory Flynn and Chris Paschali Best speaker of the tournament was ...

[caption id="attachment_31750" align="alignleft" width="280"] The Final - © Private[/caption] The Maynooth Open 2017 was won by Men I'd shift if I weren't a misandrist (Tim Squirrell, Richeal Ní Laoghaire; Edinburgh/UCD L&H) in Closing Government in an open motion. Opening Government Minorities are people not extensions (Lorna Staines, Mark Finn; Trinity Hist) set it as "THB the usa should pay reparations to african americans". The other two teams in the final were Nothing wrong with two men crying or taking valium (Eoin O'Sullivan, Chris Costigan; Cork/Trinity Phil) in Opening Opposition and  We all need somebody to Leon (Aodhan Peelo, Leon Langdon; UCD L&H) as Closing Government. [caption id="attachment_31748" align="alignright" ...

The cancellation of a public debate in Oxford on the topic "This House believes Britain's abortion culture hurts us all" caused a controversial and emotional debate in the United Kingdom. After Tim Squirrell, current president of the Cambridge Union Society, published an article in the students' newspaper "The Tab," saying, "it’s about time we recognised that and started thinking responsibly and considerately about freedom of speech," he was exposed to hostilities. Tim allowed us to republish his latest article from his blog "Squirrelling the Motion" that reflects on the ongoing discussion. Besides offering an overview on the events of the ...