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11 August 2007

Branka Marusic elected as new Euros Council President

Branka Marusic, Zagreb, Croatia, was elected by this year's Council in Istanbul as the its President.

Dear debating community,

This is the first (of many) e-mails by your newly elected president.

But to start off I would like to introduce myself. My name is Branka Marusic and for the past 3 years I have coordinated debate in Croatia and for the last year and a half I have been the EUDC Council VP for Central and Eastern Europe. In that period of time I had been dealing with various issues which gave me an insight into the specific situations and difficulties faced by countries when developing their debate programs (such as funding, institution recognition etc.) and answered and helped resolve questions, doubts and qualms. That experience served as an incentive to run for the EUDC Council president. Although it is most certainly challenging to live up to the standards set up by my dear predecessor Mr Lars Duursma, I am most willing - and by the trust you have expressed by electing me to this position also recognized as capable - to take up this task head-on.

In the coming year my wish is to improve cooperation between societies, instıtutions, countries and regions in Europe, as well as to represent the interests of all European regions such as working on setting up the criteria for clearer definitions of eligible institutions and speaker statuses (ENL, ESL, EFL).

And as the last point of this brief introduction, but certainly not the least important one, great many thanks to the organizing committtee of the Koc University and a fantastic Euros, and congrats to Tallinn as the venue of our next meeting.

Till soon,
With love from the gorgeous Istanbul,

Branka Marusic

10 August 2007

Euros Tab.

The Euros team and speaker tabs can be found at http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/2007/08/tab.html

WUDC Multiple Institution

Dear All,

Having seen the preliminary entries to Worlds from the organising committee, I've noticed that there are quite a few institutions with multiple entries under different names.

Please note that the bright line standards for allowing institutions to engage in this practice is if 1) being a member in one society precludes membership or participation in the other, and 2) the administration of the institution/university/college must identify EACH society as an OFFICIAl representative of said institution/university/college.

Violators of this rule will not be allowed to participate at Worlds and our policy has always been strictly enforced.

If you choose to send registration fees to the organising committee, you do so at your own risk.Please disseminate to the relevant listserves. Thank you for your cooperation and attention.

Cheers,
Ian Lising

Tallinn to host EUDC 2008


Tallinn (Estonia) will host the European Debating Championships in 2008.

At today's council meeting they secured 14 country votes while IDC Herzliya (Israel) only got 5.

Congratulations to Tallinn. I'm sure it will be a great tournament. Commiserations to IDC and I hope they will bid again in the future.

9 August 2007

Cambridge B Win Euros

Cambridge B (Giles Robertson & Sam Block) are the 2007 European Debating Championships.

Sam Block is also the top ranked speaker.

Tallinn Red won the ESL final.

Leela Koenig (Leiden) is the top ESL speaker

Top 10 Speakers
1. Sam Block 579
2. Alex Blenkinsopp 578
3. Alex Just 576
4. Samir Deger-Sen 572
5. Derek Lande 571
6. Alex Worsnip 568
6. Derek Doyle 568
8. Siddharth Khajuria 567
9. Ian Chapman 566
10. Constance Grieve 564

Top 10 ESL speakers
1. Leela Koenig 533
2. Sharon Kroes 531
3. Lars Duursma 529
4. Felix Lamouroux 527
5. Kai Menzel 526
6. Irina Subulica 523
6. Anna Karolin 523
8. Rosanne Hertzberger 521
9. Anita Acavalos 520
9. Mollie Gerver 520
9. Uve Poom 520

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/ & Oisin Collins (UL)

2nd Op: Connie Grieve

Connie Grieve of St. Andrews A

If there is guarantee the state will tell u the truth people will err on the side of assuming that the state is lying to you.

1. Truth
2. Warfare
3. What happens to governance.

Big difference between lying and not telling the truth.

Truth loses its value if they lie. People don't send their troops to war if they don't believe what the government says. The reason they sign up to fight is because they believe in the values of the state.

Very easy to find out if the government is lying thanks to the internet.

Losing things like attached government, the people have less confidence in government.

Need the truth to have checks and balances on the conduct of government

If can't separate the political from state interests then there is even more of a risk from the lack of check and balances.

That concludes the final. Many thanks to Derek Lande for posting updates onto the site after each speech. Hopefully he'll let us know the results when they are announced.

2nd Prop: Daniel Warrants

Daniel Warrants of Cambridge A

The soul of democracy is keeping your citizens alive.

1. How we must look at truth as an instrumental group.
2. Can you win while telling the truth?
3. The moral cost: the harm from giving up option is greater, especially because of the alternatives we'd have to pursue.

1. Preserving democracy is more important.

2. No comment doesn't work. Can't maintain a free media and simply say no comment.

Torture etc. Info never comes from our own government anyway.

War has ups and downs. Need to even it out. No comment causes answers to be inferred.

2nd Op: Doug Cochrane

Doug Cochrane of St. Andrews A

Made fun of sacrifice examples given by David.

1. Value of truth
2. Practical

Definition: 'only for war ends, not for political ends' - they can't be so easily differentiated.

Create a culture of political lying.

Decision about going to war is just as legitimate when it comes to the questions during the war over whether to end the war or not.

Their proposal can't be implement policy without censoring other sources of info, which is probably impossible.

Misleading the enemy won't work if you've been lying to them.

Nailed the no comment sufficiency issue.

Iraqi troops demoralised by lies by their government.

Attached journalists will have to go.

Lied about u-boats meaning shipping companies made bad decisions.

2nd Prop: David Tite

David Tite of Cambridge A

Major points:
Why do democracies go to war?
Even if the reasons for going to war we want them to win.
We need social cohesion and high morale
How we need to stop short term losses becomming a big deal.

1. How is this different to any other weapon.
War crimes will still be found out about.
Won't allow states to have a completely free reign. White phospherus wasn't revealed by the government.

Poi; from dan. US lied about napalm. The media exposed it and the people rioted in respnse.

Even if it is harmful, its better than losing the war.

Social cohesion: need people to volunteer to fight. Need people to bare sacrifices such as taxes etc. WW2 had massive sacrifices.

Certain truthful information can be incredibly demoralising.

1st Op: Steve Nolan

Stephen Nolan of UCC Law B

Words are what our society are built on. Worth fighting for.

Dealing with the question of threat to troops by saying in reality no comment doesn't necessarily give an answer and that enemies don't get useful information from sky news.

If you villify them it undermines the idea that the other side have rights.

Lies undermine reconcilliation afterwards

Effect of lying to your people by propogandising against your enemy polarises people even further.

No evidence that people will believe the states lies.

Effects are more harmful in the long term even if there are short term gains. The lies lost the ability to get support for actions in the future.

1st Prop: Sam Block

Sam Block of Cambridge B

Saying that opp are happy to sacrifice people rather than words.

Lives and integrity of the state more important

Difference between before and during is that during a war there are much bigger consequences.

Government can't control the media, but it can guide it.

Demonstrating why the state may want to lie about troop positions.

Poi: Connie asked why will people believe you if they know you lie.

No comment equals giving an answer.

Government should be able to make the choice.

1st Op: Daniel P. McCarthy

Daniel P. McCarthy UCC Law B

1. Confidence in the state aparatus.
2. Changing Perceptions
3. Effects

Definition challenege: should there not be a distinction between lying about reasons for war/ pursuit of.

Rebuttal.
Journalists also reveal the truth, not just historians.

Become illegitimate if you use tricky weapons. Eg. Napalm as used in Vietnam.

1. Lies about reason for going to war in iraq undermines confidence.

Germany, lied about how ww1 was going which undermined confidence in the state which created the atmosphere for the failed state that followed.

May have worked in the past. But state no longer controls the media.

2. The reason people were annoyed about the dodgy dossier was because people no longer support war for jingoistic reasons.

3. Libel/Democracy - Stephen will talk about
Impact is that soldiers will be seriously demoralised once they hear they have been lied to.

1st Prop: Giles Robertson

Giles Robertson of Cambridge B is speaking first

Major points:
1. Truth is not absolute
2. Fundamental dishonesty of war.

1. Truth must be balanced against lives etc.

Consequences of truth coming out usually not met until years after the war is over.

State violates rights all of the time in war. Eg. Intership
WW2 no elections in britain.

No such thing as an objective value of truth.

State lies in peacetime. Eg. Witness protection.

2. War is about hiding the truth. We hide details of troop movements.

Hiding information about capabilities. If we are being dishonest about this why draw an artificial line here.

No comment doesn't work as people read answers from it.

Eudc Grand Final

The grand final is about to start. The Draw is:

1P: Cambridge B (Giles Robertson & Sam Block)
2P Cambridge A: (Daniel Warents & David Tite)
1O: UCC Law B (Stephen Nolan & Daniel P. McCarthy)
2O: St. Andrews A (Connie Grieve & Doug Cochran)

Motion:
TH believes that the state should publish deliberate untruths during time of war.

Judges:
Can Okar
Anat Gelber
Will Jones
Klaas Van Schelven
Andrew Fitch
Neil Harvey Smith
Jenni Harrison
Eoin Kilkenny
Jamie Furniss

Note: Even though the post says "posted by Colm" it is actually Derek Lande who is mailing updates straight to the site from the final venue. Because the updates are coming in by e-mail the system processes them as being from me even though I'm in wet and cold Limerick. Thanks in advance to Derek for his updates.

ESL Final

Motion: "This house would withdraw the right to veto the accession of new members to EU."


1Gov Tilbury House White
1Opp Leiden B
2Gov HSoG Berlin
2Opp Tallinn Red


Judges Anat Gelber, Kate Stegemann, Jess Harvey-Smith, Tony Murphy, Daniel Schut, Kirsty Russell, Uri Zakai, Rhydian Morgan, Alistair Cormack.

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

8 August 2007

Debater on on Big Brother Africa

I've just come across this on one of the news feeds. Justice Motlhabani who many people will know as the face of Botswana debating (he presented their bid to host Worlds at last year's council meeting) and a contributor to this site is on the TV show Big Brother Africa.

Best of luck Justice. If you are in Africa and can vote for him do.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200708080759.html

M-Net's Big Brother Africa, the show, which kept many, glued to their screens some four years ago is back, and audiences can catch the drama, emotions and excitement of the 98-day reality series on DStv. And just who are the 12 Big Brother Africa 2 housemates?

BOTSWANA - Justice (23)
Birthday: January 17 Gender: Male
Place of Birth: Serowe
Height: 1.52m
Occupation: Freelance Journalist/Student

If he wrote his own book, Justice would call it An Idiot's Guide to Harnessing the Marvellous Power of Madness. An absolute enthusiast for the art of debate, Justice says if he won USD 100, 000 he'd use part of the money to start a debating organisation. He also says his favourite memory was when he presented a bid for Botswana to host the World Universities Debating Championships. "I was thrilled by the reception and encouragement I received."

And, if he wins a task in the Big Brother house, Justice would like his reward to be sponsorship to study at Oxford or Sydney Universities because they have the best debating societies in the world. "It may sound intense, but yeah that's me, I'm quite a character". Listing his bad habits, Justice says, "I'm too controversial, I debate anything. I like playing the devil's advocate." He relaxes by reading, admires Richard Branson ("to say that he is amazing is an understatement"), his favourite foods are Thai and Chinese and he'd love to visit Necker Island.


Update 9th August: Someone who is more familiar with Big Brother than I am has advised me that urging people to vote for Justice may actually be a bad thing. It seems that each week two people are nominated, the public votes and the person with the most votes loses (sort of like a US presidential election). Therefore if you are in Africa please don't vote for Justice if he is nominated.

EUDC 2007 Final

The 2007 European debating final will be contested by:

Cambridge A (Daniel Warents & David Tite)
Cambridge B (Giles Robertson & Sam Block)
UC Cork Law B (Stephen Nolan & Daniel P. McCarthy)
St. Andrews A (Connie Grieve & Doug Cochran)


ESL Final

The ESL finalists at the Koc 2007 European Debating Championships are:

Tallinn Red
Tilbury House White
HSoG Berlin
Leiden B

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

India L.N. Birla Memorial Debate 2007 Updates

















Dear all,

After running the show for 13 years, L.N. Birla Memorial Debate Championships has become the Best Individual Debating Contest for Schools and the University Students of India. Like Verbattle Debate Contest, this National Debating Championships offers 12 regional selection contests for selecting the Grand Finalist. After finishing five regional selections the Championship moves to Hyderabad today. 1000 students are expected to compete the regional debate in Hyderabad for the Final Selection.

Latest Championship Vanue: August 8, 2007
The 8th Inter-Institutional L.N. Birla national debate, Bhaskara Auditorium Hidarabad , B.M. Birla Science Centre Today at 10 a.m.

Background

The L.N.Birla Memorial Debate was instituted in 1994 to commemorate the memory of this great educator and liberal thinker. From 1994 to 1999 it continued as an annual inter-school competition in which senior schools of Calcutta took part with enthusiasm and vigour. The success of the debate in Calcutta, the keenness of the participants, the response of the house, the penetration of the arguments, prompted the school to rename the debate and recast it in a new mould that would make it a national event, including colleges as well as schools in the ambit.

The Inter Instituitional L.N.Birla National Debate

The Inter Instituitional L.N.Birla National Debate was thus born in the new millennium and it gave voice to the bold and brave youth of our country. Regional Competitions were held in eight cities, namely Calcutta, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai from July to September 2004 and the winners were invited to Calcutta for the National Finals in December 2004. At the National Finals every year will be those who are adjudged the Best Speaker in their city respectively from the participating schools and the participating colleges

Championship Year 2007: Region Date Day Topic

Hyderabad 8th August
Medical care in India is a privilege not a right

Coimbatore 17th August
It is more important to be intelligent than beautiful

Bangalore 20th August
Computers will replace teachers

Chennai 22nd August
The spirit of the Olympics today is commerce not sport

North Zone (Delhi) 30th August
Educators in India have very little to do with education

West Zone
To be finalised Feminism is the new chauvinism

National Finals 23rd November (Tentative)
Nationalism is Fundamentalism
Source: Birla Institute India Web

EUDC 2007: Semi Finals

Semi Finals of the 2007 European Debating Championships

Motion: "This House would grant the state the exclusive right to make decisions on behalf of the mentally ill."

SF 1:
1Gov UCC Phil B
1Opp Oxford B
2Gov Cambridge A
2Opp UCC Law B

SF 2:
1Gov UCC Phil C
1Opp Cambridge B
2Gov UCD L&H B
2Opp St. Andrews A

Source http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

EUDC 2007: ESL Semi Finals

ESL Semi finalists at the Koc 2007 European Debating Championships:

Motion: "This House believes that the state should not fund any fertility treatments."

SF 1:
1Gov Ljubljana Law A
1Opp Tallinn Red
2Gov Tilbury House White
2Opp Tartu B

SF 2:
1Gov TAU B
1Opp Bonaparte A
2Gov Leiden B
2Opp HSoG Berlin

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

EUDC Poll

The Poll I added to the site went a bit mad and took a dislike to St Andrews and Durham. It wouldn't allow people to vote for them. I think it's because the Blogger polls don't work if there are more than 5 options.

Therefore I've started a new poll with the 5 remaining colleges (thanks to UCC for doing so well and making it easier).
The old votes were:
Oxford 11
Cork 8
Cambridge 3
UCD 3
KCL 1.

EUDC Semi Finalists

The Semi-Finalists in the 2007 European Debating Championships in Koc are
2 Cambridge B (Giles Robertson & Sam Block)
4 Oxford B
6 St. Andrews A (Connie Grieve & Doug Cochran)
8 UC Cork Philosoph B (Paul Flynn & Conor O Brien)
10 UC Dublin L&H B (Susan Connolly & Mags Carter)
11 UC Cork Philosoph A (Diarmuid Early & Ross Frenett)
13 UC Cork Law B (Stephen Nolan & Daniel P. McCarthy)
16 Cambridge A (Daniel Warents & David Tite)


Euros ESL QF results

ESL QF results.

QF 1
1Gov Tartu B
1Opp Erasmus C
2Gov IDC A
2Opp Tilbury House White
Winners: Tartu B, Tilbury House White

QF 2
1Gov Tel Aviv B
1Opp HSoG Berlin
2Gov Erasmus A
2Opp Hebrew A
Winners: Tel Aviv B, HSoG Berlin

QF 3
1Gov Bonaparte A
1Opp Leiden A
2Gov Comenius 1
2Opp Leiden B
Winners: Leiden B, Bonaparte A

QF 4
1Gov Tilbury House Blue
1Opp Ljubljana Law A
2Gov Tilbury House Red
2Opp Tallinn Red

Winners: Ljubljana Law A, Tallinn Red

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

EUDC 2007: Quater Finals and Motion

Motion: "This House would forcibly settle the Roma."

QF1
1Gov Oxford A
1Opp KCL A
2Gov UCC Phil B
2Opp Cambridge A
Judges: Isabelle Loewe, Eoin Kilkenny, Jenni Harrison, Mert Onen, Uri Zakai

QF 2
1Gov UCD L&H A
1Opp Oxford C
2Gov UCD L&H B
2Opp Cambridge B
Judges: Andrew Fitch, Neil Harvey-Smith, Özlem Unal, Tony Murphy, Victor Chernov

QF 3
1Gov St. Andrews A
1Opp UCC Phil C
2Gov Oxford D
2Opp UCC Phil A
Judges: Daniel Schut, Can Okar, Kate Stegemann, Rhydian Morgan, Shane Cranley

QF 4
1Gov Durham B
1Opp Oxford B
2Gov UCC Law B
2Opp UCC Law A
Judges: Jessica Harvey-Smith, Jason Vit, Klaas van Schelven, Ruvi Ziegler, Will Jones

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

EUDC 2007: ESL QF Draw & motion

Koc European Debating Championships ESL Quater Finals

Motion: "This House would distribute development aid through religious organizations rather than the state."

QF 1
1G Tartu B
1O Erasmus C
2G IDC A
2O Tilbury House White
Judges: Ciaran Lawlor, Alanna Landers, Domagoj Baric, Luka Keller, Manolis Polychronides

QF 2
1G Tel Aviv B
1O HSoG Berlin
2G Erasmus A
2O Hebrew A
Judges: Debbie Newman, Ewan McDonald, Eyal Oron, Rose Grogan, Simone van Elk

QF 3
1G Bonaparte A
1O Leiden A
2G Comenius 1
2O Leiden B
Judges: Jens Fischer, Anat Gelber, Alistair Cormack, Danny Gleeson, Kirsty Russell

QF 4
1G Tilbury House Blue
1O Ljubljana Law A
2G Tilbury House Red
2O Tallinn Red
Judges: Jamie Furniss, Alex Ward, Alex Wright, Deirdre Milner, Luke Harris

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

The ESL Break

The Koc EUDC ESL 2007 break is

1. Tilbury House White (14pts)
2. Erasmus A (13pts)
3. Leiden A (13pts)
4. Tilbury House Blue (13pts)
5. Tallin Red (13pts)
6. Leiden B (13pts)
7. Tel Aviv B (13pts)
8. Tartu B (13pts)
9. Erasmus C (13pts)
10. HSoG Berlin (12pts)
11. Bonaparte A (12pts)
12. Ljubljana Law A (12pts)
13. Tilbury House Red (12pts)
14. Comenius 1 (12pts)
15. Hebrew A (11pts)
16. IDC A (11pts)

Note: 14. Haifa A (12pts) - didn't break because one of them missed a round.

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

IBA Nat'l Debate Championship Bangladesh 2007













The Communication Club of Institute of Business Administration (IBACC) of Dhaka University (DU) is going to organise a national English debate competition on August 10-12.A total of 24 teams from 16 universities will take part in the parliamentary type IBA National Debate Championship 2007, said IBA Director Prof Muhammad Ziaul Haq Mamun at a press conference held at IBA auditorium yesterday.

The first round of the tournament will be held on the opening day while the second round, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final round will be held on August 11. The prize giving ceremony will be held on the concluding day, he added.ACI Limited is the official sponsor of the tournament, while The Daily Star, Channel i and Radio Foorti are media partners.

Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, American International University of Bangladesh, Brac University, Chittagong University, Dhaka Medical College, Independent University of Bangladesh, Islamic University of Technology, Jahangirnagar University, Khulna University, North South University, Rajshahi University, Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, Barisal, Stamford University, University of Asia Pacific, United International University and host Institute of Business Administration (IBA) will take part in the competition.

Syed Munir Khasru, moderator of IBACC, Syed Alamgir, executive director of ACI Limited and Sudipta Mahmud of Channel i were also present at the press conference.

EUDC 2007: Day 4

It turns out that the schedule on the Koc website has changed and they aer going ahead with the QFs & SFs today today

7 August 2007

Euros 2007: The break

The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) 2007 Break.

1. Oxford A 20pts (Alex Just and Alex Worsnip)
2 Cambridge B 18pts (Giles Robertson & Sam Block)
3 UC Cork Philosoph A 17pts (Derek Lande & Derek Doyle)
4 Oxford B - 16pts
5 Durham B - 16pts (Ian Chapman & Siddharth Khajuria)
6 St. Andrews A 16pts (Connie Grieve & Doug Cochran)
7 Oxford C 16pts (Andrew Marshall & Shengwu Li)
8 UC Cork Philosoph B (Paul Flynn & Conor O Brien)
9 Kings College London (KCL) A - 15pts (Jonathan Maynard Leader & Louis Palombo)
10 UC Dublin L&H B (Susan Connolly & Mags Carter)
11 UC Cork Philosoph C (Diarmuid Early & Ross Frenett)
12 UC Cork Law A (Art Ward & Tiernan Fitzgibbon)
13 UC Cork Law B (Stephen Nolan & Daniel P. McCarthy)
14 Oxford D
15 UC Dublin L&H A (Ross Kelly & Gregg O'Neill)
16 Cambridge A (Daniel Warents & David Tite)

Points of note:

  • Oxford topped the tab and had 4 teams breaking but Cork were the most successful college with 5 teams in the break.
  • In total 7 institutions from 3 countries made the break.
  • Cambridge C (Jo Box & Shane Murray) were in the top room in round 7 but missed out on speaker points.
  • I don't yet have the ESL break. I'll post it as soon as I get it.
  • The QF to attend (if you are near Koc) has to be C2 with UCC Phil A (Derek Lande & Derek Doyle) and St Andrews A (Connie Grieve & Doug Cochran).

Quater Final Draw:
QF A1
1. Oxford A
8 UCC Philosoph B
9 Kings College London (KCL) A
16 Cambridge A

QF D1
4 Oxford C
5 Durham B
12 UCC Law A
13 UCC Law B

QF B2
2 Cambridge B
7 Oxford C
10 UCD L&H B
15 UCD L&H A

QF C2
3 UCC Philosoph A
6 St. Andrews A
11 UCC Philosoph C
14 Oxford D

Top 2 from A1 meet the top 2 from D1 in the Semis. Likewise for B2 & C2.

Thanks to Derek Lande for the quick update from Koc, Istanbul

Sri Lanka All Island Inter Collage Debate Contest













Mahasen Maha Vidyalaya from Bakamuna and St. Mary’s College from Hambantota participated at the finals of the all island debate competition organized by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science. Students of Bakamuna Mahasen Vidyalaya presented their ideas on the topic “Mahaweli project has achieved its expected goals” while the other team opposed to it. The debate team of the Bakamuna Mahasen Vidyalaya was selected as the winner.

The awards for the winners of the poster and oratory competitions held in Hambantota, Badulla, Ratnapura and Ampara districts were presented by Prof. Sirimali Fernando, the Chairperson of the NSF and Dr MC.N. Jayasuriya, the Director of the NSF. First place winners were awarded with a personalized plaque and a certificate, while others were presented with a certificate.
Source: Sri Lanka National Science Foundation Web

Europeans Day 3: Motions

Round 5: "This House would require prescription for the 'morning-after-pill"

Round 6: "This House would introduce a time limit on bringing prosecutions for genocide"

Round 7: "This House would prosecute parents who take their children to another legal jurisdiction in order to carry out an act which is illegal in their home country."

Oxford A (Alex Just and Alex Worsnip) are currently top of the tab with 5 wins from 5 debates. Round 6 and 7 are closed adjudication but Oxford A were still in the top room for Round 7 (1g Oxford C 1o Oxford A 2g Cambridge C 2o Cambridge B) with former Worlds DCA Neill Harvey Smith as the chair judge.

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

6 August 2007

Fantasy Football 2007-2008


Totally non-debated but as I've done from time to time in the past I've again set up a Fantasy Premier League for this year. No prizes just perhaps some bragging rights and conversation topics at IVs. If you are interested in joining then visit http://fantasy.premierleague.com/, select your team, click on leagues and enter 3124-125037 in "Join a private league"

Don't forget that you can also join one of the facebook communities (links on the right) and network to people there.



Euros Day 2: Motions

Round 1: "This House would take lifestyle choices into account in the allocation of scarce medical resources."

Round 2: "This House believes the state should prohibit all items of clothing which cover the face."

Round 3: "This House believes that democracy is a necessary condition for economic growth and stability (ANALYSIS)"
Note: The adjudication team decided to post this an analysis motion, ie: no model required, just debate first principles. As Jens said on his blog "Interesting".

Round 4: "This House believes that Turkey should invade Northern Iraq to fight Kurdish terrorist organisations."

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/

Euros Update: Day 1

To summarise some interesting pieces of news Jens has posted on http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com.

DCA Alex Betts (Oxford) had to cancel his participation on short notice. The adjudication team has appointed Will Jones (Oxford) as DCA in his place.

It seems that the two pre-announced bids for 2008 are the only bids on the table. At the moment it seems to be too tight to call between IDC and Tallinn.

This year seems to be the biggest ever Europeans with 172 teams and 170+ adjudicators from 22 countries

Source: http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com

5 August 2007

Malaysia Taylor’s Inter-College Law Debate 2007

TAYLOR’S University College retained its title by edging its opponents from Multimedia University (MMU) at the Second Taylor’s Inter-College Law Debate Final recently. It was double joy for Taylor’s as second speaker Sharizal Mohd Sidek also won the best speaker award.

Debating on the motion Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the right to live is outweighed by the duty to punish, the Taylor’s team comprising Kan Ming Choy, Sharizal, and V. Varunnath gave a splendid display of analytical and oratorical skills against their MMU counterparts. The other institutions which took part were INTI International University College, Kemayan ATC, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, and Universiti Malaya.

Like the champions, some of the other teams fielded veterans from the inaugural competition and this ensured stiffer competition. As the purpose of the tournament is to expose law students to a higher standard of critical thinking, effective communication and research skills, the motions throughout the competition raised relevant issues in society.

The motion in the quarter-finals was Corporations have a social responsibility and legal duty to protect and the environment is one of them, and in the semi-finals The right to free speech has no place in a globalised world.

The adjudicators included judges Datuk Gopal Sri Ram and Datuk Vincent Ng Kim Khoay as well as lawyers Steven Thiru and Ariff Rozhan. Sri Ram, the chief adjudicator in the final, said the arguments from both teams were superb.

“It was definitely a very mature performance,” he added.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2007/7/22/education/18332434

Your German Correspondent


After keeping us all informed on developments at UBC Worlds Jens Fischer "Your German correspondent" (http://yourgermancorrespondent.blogspot.com/) is blogging Euros.
As with the recent World Schools Blog I've added a feed link to the right hand side so people can see the latest news as Jens posts it.