This Blog has now moved to idebate.org/worlddebating - all future posts will be made there!

17 November 2005

Info on uccphilosoph

Some things I came across on a visit to www.uccphilosoph.com

In case anyone is interested the Irish teams for Worlds can be found at
http://www.uccphilosoph.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&t=187

The Oxford & Cambridge teams can be found at
http://www.uccphilosoph.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&t=224

Finally a good guide to Worlds Style debating can be found at
http://www.uccphilosoph.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&t=195

In summary the UCC Philosoph Message board is worth visiting.

Update on Paris IV

The English version for The Ecole Centrale Debating Club IV can now be found
at

http://reflet.via.ecp.fr/~debating/english/bienvenue.html

Abuse of comments

I have, unfortunately, had to delete a comment placed on this site. This comment was an attack on other debaters.

The problem was not that an attack was made. This is a debating website and if someone wishes to make a reasoned argument they can. However the problem was that the comment was placed anonymously.

If you do not have the courage to place your name against such a comment it will not be posted.

As a result of this abuse of the open comments I have activated moderation for all comments. This is not to limit free speech. It is designed to limit the abuse of free speech. I run the site and I am held to account for what is on it. I had hoped that debaters would be mature enough not to hide behind anonymous posting.

If the person wishes to repost their comment I will allow it BUT they will have to include their name and e-mail for verification (I will not post the e-mail but I will use it to verify that the person posting is not using another's identity).

Thanks,
Colm
.

2007 DCAs

Derek Lande, Tim Sonnreich, and Alex Deane have been announced as the DCAs for UBC Worlds 2007.


e-mail from UBC

Dear All,
On behalf of the UBC Worlds 2007 Organizing Committee I am pleased to announce that we have confirmed selection of our 3 DCA's for our tournament. I would like to take a moment to publicly thank all of the applicants for their efforts, and for enduring a rather public consultation process. The only really hard part of the job of CA thus far has been not being able to take on such qualified and genuinely amazing people.

We would like to also thank all those who contributed to the feedback process. The feedback we got was overwhelmingly helpful and constructive, and there was next to no personal remarks and that I am aware of, no public airing of grievances. We think that this process has helped us select a group of DCAs that will have the support not only of the region from which they hail, but from the entire world debating community.

In selecting DCA's (and I'm very surprised if you're still reading this and haven't scrolled to the bottom by now), we looked for excellence in debating, a proven track record as an adjudicator, a proven track record as an event organizer, the ability to handle concerns in large volume from a culturally diverse group, and lastly but perhaps most importantly, we looked at the feedback from the world, and from the candidates region to see what the impact of naming that candidate would be.

With all of these factors considered, we are delighted to name Derek Lande, Tim Sonnreich, and Alex Deane as the DCAs for UBC Worlds 2007.

Derek is a winner of multiple IVs, a DCA at this year's European Championships in Berlin, and has broken as an adjudicator at worlds in Malaysia. He has excellent organizational and tabbing skills and will be an incredibly valuable presence at the event.

Alex is a world champion, a final round adjudicator on countless panels and countless IVs and one of the most talented speakers in the world. Alex is an excellent planner and a great diplomat. While he is the first to tell a person his own views, he is also the first to fight loudly for views of others he feels are not being fairly represented.

Tim is a worlds finalist, and a final round adjudicator on nearly as many panels as Alex (possibly more, I didn't really count). He has taught debate seminars across Asia and has an excellent ability to respond and predict the concerns of ESL speakers, having spent so much time working with ESL teams in the past. It is very important to us to have a DCA who understands the concerns of ESL teams at the competition. The wording of motions, and other such concerns are often overlooked, and we are pleased to have a DCA with such an excellent and proven ability to respond to those concerns. I will note that the feedback process in particular from ESL speakers highlighted Tim's ability in this regard.

We recognize that we do not have female representation on the adjudication team, and we are aware of the concerns about ensuring women's issues being fairly and adequately represented to the Org Com. We feel that women's issues will be apprpriately dealt with through an expansion of the powers and involvement of the tournament women's officer. Our Women's Officer (to be named shortly) will be involved at all stages of the event planning, from social venues, to motion vetting, to the construction of complaints and dispute resolution procedures. We will be introducing shortly, a consultation process so that concerns regarding women's issues can be compiled out of previous tournaments and previous Women's forums, to ensure that all of the issues that can possibly be addressed will be, and that mechanisms will exist at the event itself to deal with issues as they may arise.

I hope you will join me in congratulating our DCAs on their selection to the adjudication team.

We look forward to working with them over the next year to make worlds at UBC a truly memorable experience.

Sincerely,

Kevin Massie
Chief Adjudicator - UBC Worlds 2007
on behalf of the Org Com

15 November 2005

Competition in Paris.

The Ecole Centrale in Paris have recently created a Debating Club,

They are organising a debating tournament in Paris on the 3rd of december. They are currently setting up a website but in the meantime if you are interested please e-mail debating-tournament@campus.ecp.fr

They are looking for experienced debaters in the Paris area willing to come and judge. If you can help please e-mail please e-mail debating-tournament@campus.ecp.fr

XXX Deree Invitational

The results of The XXX Deree College Invitational have as follows:

Winners:
Chris Samolis & George Krezias (Costeas-Geitonas)

Best Speaker:
Natasha Theodosiou (Independent)

Finalists:
Petros Papalianos & Branka Marusic (AUEB/Zagreb hybrid),
George Konstandinides & Albert Fornis (HAEF/Pireaus hybrid),
George Katritsis & Jess Timelin (St. Catherine's)

Masters Division Winners:
Tasos Katechis & Philip Atzemoglou ("The Judges")

Masters Finalists:
John Vlastaras &Theo Kalyviotis,
Manolis Polychronides & Manos Moschopoulos,
Phaeny Kessisoglou & Irene Kamba.

Motions

I've had a number of requests for motions in the run up to Worlds:

You can find past Worlds Motions at http://www.debating.net/flynn/wudcmot.htm

This year's motions:

Motions from the Oxford IV.
1. THW lift the international ban on whaling
2. THW mandate the use of condoms in pornography
3. THW introduce a salary cap for European footballers
4. THBT Russia should compulsorily renationalise its oil and gas industries
5. THBT people who refuse to accept jobs which require them to remove religious dress should not recieve unemployment benefit
ESL Semi: THW make English the single working language of the EU
ESL Final: THBT the outing of public figures is a legitimate tactic of the gay rights movement
Main Quarter: THBT fault should be a factor in the awarding of court ordered divorce settlements
Main Semi: THBT western nations should buy opium from Afghan farmers for morphine production
Main Final: THBT doctors should inform parents before carrying out abortions on under 16s

UCD IV Motions:
Rd 1: TTHWS the imposition by the legislature of a ten year mandatory minimum sentence for sex crimes
Rd 2: TTHW exempt developing countries from international laws on intellectual property.
Rd 3: TTHB Israel should preemtively strike Iran.
Rd 4: TTHW give social welfare in the form of vouchers.
Rd 5: TTHW ban hunting.
Semi: TTHW not allow David Irving speak on campus.
Final: TTHW take clinically obese children into care

CUSID BP Final:
Something along the lines of:That This House Supports a Shoot to Kill Policy Against Suspected Terrorists.

Newcastle IV Final:THBT When it comes to AIDS prevention is better than cure

Irish Mace Motions:
That This House Would Legalise Performance Enhancing Drugs in Professional Sport
That This House Would Legalise Consensual Cannibalism
That This House Would Ban Adultery
That This House Supports a Shoot to Kill Policy Against Suspected Terrorists
That This House Supports Compulsory MMR Vaccinations for Children
That This House Would Ban Boxing
That This House Would Introduce Compulsory ID Cards

Irish Times Motions:
These motions are very specifically Irish.
However they may give you an insight into the issues being debated in Ireland at the moment.

This House Regrets The Arrival Of Starbucks In Ireland
This House Believes It’s Time To Restore Stormont
This House Would De-List Residential Buildings
This House Believes RTE Should Cut The Rose Of Tralee
This House Would Steal Its Music
This House Would Boycott Shell
This House Believes Britain Should Criminalise The Glorification Of Terror
This House Would Return The Columbia Three
This House Would Remove Judge Curtin From The Bench
This House Believes George W. Bush Is A Legitimate Target
This House Believes Bono & Bob Should Stay Out Of Politics
This House Believes Parents Should Pay For The Crimes Of Their Children
This House Regrets The Arrival Of Dublin’s Casinos
This House Regrets France’s Ban On The Hijab
This House Would Introduce ASBO’s
This House Would Halt The Tribunals

For more details of issues in Ireland visit
www.ireland.com
www.rte.ie
Or search the internet if you are uncertain who Judge Curtin etc is.

14 November 2005

Oxford Results

The Oxford IV 2005 Results

Winners: Cambridge D (Adam Bott & David Tite)

Best speaker on tab: Beth O'Connor (Yale A).

ESL Winners ASDV Bonaparte A (Daniel Schut & Julien Spliet)

ESL Best Speaker: Daniel Schut (Bonaparte A).

UPDATE: Tab can now be found at http://www.debating.net/flynn/oxford06.htm It is a large file so may take some time to download.

Oxford Motions

Motions from the Oxford IV.

1. THW lift the international ban on whaling
2. THW mandate the use of condoms in pornography
3. THW introduce a salary cap for European footballers
4. THBT Russia should compulsorily renationalise its oil and gas industries
5. THBT people who refuse to accept jobs which require them to remove religious dress should not recieve unemployment benefit

ESL Semi: THW make English the single working language of the EU
ESL Final: THBT the outing of public figures is a legitimate tactic of the gay rights movement

Main Quarter: THBT fault should be a factor in the awarding of court ordered divorce settlements
Main Semi: THBT western nations should buy opium from Afghan farmers for morphine production

Main Final: THBT doctors should inform parents before carrying out abortions on under 16s