European debate calendar

Just a short advertisement: I'll continue amongst others to maintain and update the European debating calender which can be accessed and subscribed to at http://europeandebating.blogspot.com.

The calendars was designed to inform about all debate events in Europe, on any level, in any format. Please let me know if you want to add something - further information on the necessary input can be found at the above address.

EUDC 2008 champions: By the power of Will...

and James:

Oxford A are European Champions 2008.

Simon Quinn was chosen as best speaker by the honorary panel.

Bobes Bolyai A (Nico and Dan) are the new ESL champions.

Adam Hildebrandt (HSoG A) was chosen as best speaker by the honorary panel.

Top 10 speakers have been announced, here's what Colm Flynn got from Derek Lande, with my additions:

Top 10 speakers of EUDC 2008

10. Ross Maguire (UCD Law A)
9. Jonathan Leader-Maynard (KCL A)
7. Fred Cowell (ULU B)
7. Dan Bradley (Manchester A)
6. Ross Frennet (UCC Phil A)
5. Stephen Boyle (UCD L&H A)
4. Alex Worsnip (Oxford B)
3. William Jones (Oxford A)
1. James Dray (Oxford A)
1. Simon Quinn (Oxford B)

Top 10 ESL Speakers
10. Assen Kochev (Tilbury A)
9. Julien Spliet (Bonaparte A)
8. Ali Al Jaberi (Bonaparte A)
6. Rutger Vos (Bonaparte C)
6. Nico Lupea (BBU A)
5. Uri Merhav (Tel Aviv A)
4. Ina Sublica (Helsinki A)
3. Simone Van Elk (Leiden A)
2. Anne Valkering (Bonaparte C)
1. Leela Koenig (Leiden A)

Congratulations to the new European Champions and the top speakers!

Skypecast of Grand Final?

There seems to be a skypecast of the Grand Final. However, from my hotel room it doesn't seem to work. Advice anyone?

Grand Final EUDC 2008

The draw for the Grand Final:

1G Oxford A
1O Oxford D
2G Oxford B
2O KCL A

on the motion "This House would ban the display of Nazi and Soviet symbols."

ESL Final EUDC 2008

The draw for the ESL final:

1G Tel Aviv A
1O HSoG A
2G Leiden A
2O BBU A

on the motion: "This house would allow soldiers to opt out of individual conflict for personal reasons."

The finals are held in Kaarli Church, an ancient church in the centre of Tallinn.


After the final, there was a SMS-text-lottery in which participants could send a textmessage to a specific number and indicate their favoured team of the debate. The numbers were around 55 % in favour of HSoG A, 25% voted for Leiden A, 12% for BBU A and 8% for Tel Aviv A.

Just before the debate, I had to opt out of judging the debate because of a sudden migraine attack. I'll spare you my life story, and I am feeling a little better now, but still wanted to express my gratitude to Jenny Harrison, who took over for me despite the short notice. Thank you!

Spela and Spela rule Euros: New EUDC council president elected

In a run-off between Manos Polychronides (Deree, Greece) and Spela Kunej (Ljubljana, Slovenia), EUDC Council elected Spela as the new Council president by 9 to 5 votes and 1 abstention. Spela Kranjc was confirmed as registrar.

Congratulations!

Newcastle Euros bid approved

After questions to the organisers and prospective CA Sam Block, EUDC Council unanimously ratified Newcastle's bid to host Euros next year. The presentation sounded great - we are looking forward to Newcastle EUDC 09!

If you are interested in the bid, take a look at http://www.eudcnewcastle09.com/ - according to organisers, there will be frequent updates.

The White Nights

Just to give you an idea of the environment that Tallinn Euros is taking place in, here's a picture that was taken at 12.30 in the morning, looking north. It's just beautiful.

Also, Euros council is still in session, asking many questions to the Newcastle 2009 bid and earlier complaining about certain mishaps during this year's competition. Pretty much like every year: Things always takes longer than expected.

All English Grand Final

Breaking from ESL SF 1:
BBU A & Leiden A

Breaking from ESL SF 2:
Tel Aviv A & HSoG A

Judges: Diarmuid Early (Chair), Sam Block, Andrew Marshall, Jens Fischer, Derek Lande, Derek Doyle, Greg O'Neil, Alaistair Cormack, Daniel Schut

Breaking from Main Break SF 1:
Oxford D & Oxford B

Breaking from Main Break SF 2:
Oxford A & KCL A

Judges: Neill Harvey-Smith (Chair), Isabelle Loewe, Coletta Smith, Andy Hume, Erin O'Brien, Danny McCarthy, Bob Nimmo, Tony Murphy, Connie Grieve

Congratulations!

Break announcement for Main Break and ESL at 8 pm local time.

Both the results of the main break and the ESL semi-finals are about to be announced - people are gathering, and waiting for the A-team so save the day.

Main Break SF draw and motion

Going through from QF 1:
Oxford A, UCD L&H A
No all-Oxford final!

Going through from QF 4:
KCL A, UCC Phil A

The pairing for SF 1:
1G Oxford A
1O UCD L&H A
2G UCC Phil A
2O KCL A

Judges: Andy Hume (Chair), Daniel Warents, Erin O'Brien, Daniel Schut, Alistair Cormack

Going through from QF 2:
UCC Law A, Oxford B

Going through from QF 3:
UCD Law A, Oxford D
Still room for a 3-Oxford-teams final, but also an all-Irish one. Exciting!

The pairing for SF 2:
1G Oxford D
1O UCD Law A
2G Oxford B
2O UCC Law A

Judges: Connie Grieve (Chair), Jens Fischer, Colletta Smith, Jenny Harrison, Neill Harvey-Smith

Motion: "This House would abolish income tax."

Main Break SF announcement 30 minutes earlier

Since there have been questions: The announcement of the Main Break Semi-Finals has been moved to 5.30 pm local time, which is 3.30 GMT and of course 4.30 p.m. for most of Europe.

ESL break to the SF

QF 1 going through:
BDU B, Leiden A

QF 4 going through:
BBU A, Bonaparte B

So SF 1 will be:
1G BDU B (9)
1O Bonaparte B (12)
2G Leiden A (1)
2O BBU A (5)

Judges: Andrew Marshall (Chair), Danny P McCarthy, Derek Lande, Gregg O'Neil, Sam Block


QF 2 going through:
Tel Aviv A, Warwick A

QF 3 going through:
Tilbury A, HSoG A

So SF 2 will be:
1G Tel Aviv A (7)
1O HSoG A (11)
2G Tilbury A (3)
2O Warwick A (10)

Judges: Tony Murphy (Chair), Derek Doyle, Samir Deger-Sen, Adriaan Andringa, Isabelle Loewe

Motion: "This House believes the European Union should declare that energy security is a legitimate reason for military action."

Cheers and disbelief all around...

Before the semi-final break announcement

Teams behaved the usual way after QF: Some of them in despair, others in hope, many just confused.

However, there still is a chance of an all Oxford final - to which participants couldn't really warm up to.

Main Break QF draw and motion

QF 1
1G Oxford C (8)
1O UCD L & H A (9)
2G Oxford A (1)
2O TCD Phil B (16)

Judges: Daniel McCarthy (Chair), Derek Doyle, Isabelle Loewe, Stuart Anderson, David Middlemiss

QF 2
1G Cambridge B (7)
1O ULU B (10)
2G UCC Law A (15)
2O Oxford B (2)

Judges: Ali Cormack (Chair), Adriaan Andringa, Andy Hume, Kirsty Russell, David Wheelan

QF 3
1G UCD Law A (6)
1O UCD Law B (14)
2G Oxford D (11)
2O Manchester A (3)

Judges: Daniel Schut (Chair), Sam Block, Ewan MacDonald, Tony Murphy, Olga Polunina

QF 4
1G Leiden A (4)
1O KCL A (12)
2G Helsinki A (13)
2O UCC Phil A (5)

Judges: Greg O'Neill (Chair), Felicity Cook, Neil Dewar, Andrew Marshall, Bob Nimmo

Motion: "This House would ban the broadcast of recordings produced by terrorists."

QF ESL: Draw and motion

QF ESL 1
1G Koc A (8)
1O IDC A (16)
2G BDU B (9)
2O Leiden A (1)

Judges: Jenni Harrison (Chair), Samir Deger-Sen, Diarmuid Early, Mikhail Jevdokimov, Ashleigh Lamming

QF ESL 2
1G Tel Aviv A (7)
1O Tilbury D (15)
2G Warwick A (10)
2O Bonaparte A (2)

Judges: Connie Grieve (Chair), Dan Cotley, Ozgun Dundar, Eoin Kilkenny, Erin O'Brien

QF ESL 3
1G Tilbury C (14)
1O Tilbury A (3)
2G HSoG A (11)
2O Haifa B (6)

Judges: Colletta Smith (Chair), Rob Honig, Derek Lande, Giles Robertson, Alex Ward

QF ESL 4
1G BBU A (5)
1O Bonaparte A (4)
2G Bonaparte B (12)
2O METU A (13)

Judges: Daniel Warents (Chair), Sam Block, Jens Fischer, Anat Gelber, Marite Klavina

Motion: "This House would require all schools to teach safe sex to children from age 10 regardless of parental consent."

Motion R7 EUDC 2008

"This House would pay morbidly obese people to lose weight."

There had to be a health motion, I guess.

Motion R6 EUDC 2008

"This House believes developed countries should not accept skilled migrants from developing countries."

Great motion, that is: the judges are whistling in appreciation.

R2 debate podcast online

Check out the Euros homepage to listen to

1G TCD PhilB
1O Oxford A
2G IDC Herzliya A
2O Bonaparte C

debating the R2 motion "“This House believes that sporting bodies should penalise teams when their players commit criminal acts off the field.”

Even though the sound quality is apparently not great, I think it is superb that debates are being recorded and published. Keep up the good work, Tallinn!

No team on straight firsts any more - break night preparations

It hasn't yet been confirmed, but apparently there is no team on straight wins anymore. That is: Oxford B just took a point off Oxford A. There may be other teams, but noone I asked knew of any.

R6 and R7 will be closed, thus there will not be further information how teams performed. We just have to wait for the break announcement tonight.

Speaking of which: The international battle between Turks and Germans also has an effect on Euros participants, but in a rather good way: We agreed to all watch the game at the same location, thus ensuring that triumph and failure stick close to one another.

Organisers have promised to livestream the game at the party location tonight using projectors. But they are also drawing up a plan B should that connection prove to be too weak. We are certainly looking forward to watching the game!

No team on straight firsts any more - break night preparations

It hasn't yet been confirmed, but apparently there is no team on straight wins anymore. That is: Oxford B just took a point off Oxford A. There may be other teams, but noone I asked knew of any.

R6 and R7 will be closed, thus there will not be further information how teams performed. We just have to wait for the break announcement tonight.

Speaking of which: The international battle between Turks and Germans also has an effect on Euros participants, but in a rather good way: We agreed to all watch the game at the same location, thus ensuring that triumph and failure stick close to one another.

Organisers have promised to livestream the game at the party location tonight using projectors. But they are also drawing up a plan B should that connection prove to be too weak. We are certainly looking forward to see the game!

R3 tab is online

After some consulting, the tab after the first day is now available online, for your enjoyment and analysis. You find it on the Euros homepage.

I think it is great that the information is made available, since at least in principle it is in the public domain anyways - I hope this practice is upheld also for Worlds.

Motion R5 EUDC 2008

"This House would ban the physical punishment of children by parents."

Top room seems to be

1G Cambridge A
1O Manchester A
2G Oxford B
2O Oxford A


Nice.

Motion analysis R4

This proved to be a relatively difficult debate, because of the different status quo jurisdictions in different countries. Mine was an all-British debate, but still there was quite an amount of confusion about such things as "punitive damages" or the way that disposable income is taken into account next to other things as guilt, damage done or remorse in finding a decent judgement.

Many teams struggle with debates in which there usually is a "reasonable" status quo, and they now have to argue the extremes. That doesn't mean that this was a bad motion, it only means that these debates are hardly ever breathtaking.

An interesting point was raised in my debate about progressive taxation and how that was justified, even though it probably wasn't all that relevant for this debate: The equivalent of an fine relative to wealth would probably be a flat tax - and even then it still is a difficult analogy.

Motion R4 EUDC 2008

"This House would make fines relative to wealth."

And Bob, if you are reading this: We are soooo on time!!!

Motion analysis R3

This was an excellent motion, even more so because it doesn't really depend on the model, but a lot more on principle and (some) knowledge. At least that is what happened in my room, I hope other people enjoyed it as well.

I'm still trying to get information on teams and how they fared. If any of them is reading this, you may want to simply comment on things you have heard.

We're off to dinner now, so this is to be continued tomorrow.

Motion R3 EUDC 2008

"This House would use military force where necessary to deliver emergency aid."

And we are still almost on time, running 12 minutes (!) behind the schedule.

Euros interactive

It's worthwhile to regularly check the Euros homepage www.eudc2008.eu. They are putting new stuff online all the time, right now there are videos of the arrivals and the opening ceremonies on view. The latter was quite funny, actually.

During the opening ceremonies, they also presented a hysterically funny trailer movie - let's hope that will also be available soon...

Motion analysis R2

To be honest, the R2 motion sounds a bit like a Derek Lande memorial topic - fudging politics and sports.

As it was mentioned in a comment, I also find it hard to see a connection between the wrongdoings of an individual and the collective punishment of his mates. However, I there seem to be two inroads: Firstly that teams stop hiring troublemakers (even though there is a lot to be said against that). And secondly, a SOAS team in our room came up with the idea that clubs have behaviour-agreements with the sports bodies that also concern off-the-pitch behaviour. Since this is collectively binding, it might also be enforced collectively. It's clinging to a straw, I admit.

We have a recorded debate with Oxford A and Bonaparte C (don't remember the other two teams, sorry). That will be made available as a podcast later on for those who have time to listen.

Possibly you guys have further ideas in the meantime?

Still trying to get a few results

I'll be hanging around the tab room a bit to find out about how teams fared so far.

As concerning German teams in Tallinn: We have two teams from Berlin (BDU), one from the Hertie School of Governance, one from Halle, one from Munich, and four teams from Tilbury House. That prepares us well for the cheering contest with the Turks, who have 10 teams in the competition.

Motion R2 EUDC 2008

"This House believes that sporting bodies should penalise teams when their players commit criminal acts off the field."

We're on time now.

General observations: Weather and socials

The weather here is not according to everyone's taste. At least it is very "honest": It has been raining heavily for around 50 % of the time so far, and by raining we mean: pouring.

This is why people were a little bit sceptical about the socials of the first night: Celebrating midsummer night in an open air park near Tallinn.

Convenor Helina however was cheerful, claiming "don't worry, it will clear up", even as we tried to get to the busses as dry as possible. And what can we say: She was right! 10 minutes after we had arrived at the location, the rain stopped and the sun came out (see picture below). There are now rumours the organizers ordered Russian airplanes to "salt" the clouds. This is usually only done to celebrate May 8th in Moscow, but who knows...?

We take it that the socials were very typically estonian, with a bonfire, lots of beer and traditional dance. Very enjoyable, even though it got quite chilly at night.

Some of the participants went for a quick dip. You can do the guessing on the usual suspects.

The sun set around 11 p.m., in an amazing setting. Since it never actually gets really dark at night, Estonians call this time of year the "White Nights". It's a bit strange to wake up at 8 in the morning, and it feels like some time in the afternoon.

For tonight, there is apparently another outdoor activity, but that may actually be cancelled because of the weather instability.

General observations: Food

The food is, shall we say, open to improvement. Except for the great breakfast at the hotel, so far the meals consisted of vaguely Chinese stews (see picture below). For lunch, we had literally a bowl of rice. Many people hope it is going to improve in the next few days.


The beer, however, is very good and cheap (for half a liter, we paid 2 € at the park we went to last night, and 3,50 € at the Hotel Bar called "The Englishman's pub"). And that is great!

General observations: Accomodation

The whole competition is accomodated at Hotel Olümpia, which was built for the sailing competitions of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

It's a very nice location, with excellent breakfast and a pool with fitness and saunas on the 26th floor, overlooking the city.

However, probably because of the general reservedness of the Estonias, the personel is cool, bordering the unfriendly. This has been observed by many debaters, also in other locations around the city. Fortunately, our host and all the Euros staff are very friendly and open.

Because of a screw up, some of the debaters had to change rooms. This initially stirred some unhappiness, but now the issue seems to be resolved.

A bit of motion analysis

As has been pointed out in a comment, this is a pretty standard motion. Still, we could observe here that especially teams from eastern Europe had trouble in dealing with it appropriately: It simply is not something that their societies care very much about - at least according to a few Russian participants.

Also, in personal observation: You can win this debate with pretty standard stuff, but as soon as the analysis reaches a certain level, it gets hellishly complicated.

In any case: The first round of a major competition is always a bit random and arkward, whatever the motion then actually is.

Motion R1 EUDC 2008

Starting just about 45 minutes delayed, the motion for R1 is

"This House would require people to work in return for welfare payments."

In one room, there are meeting two Oxford teams one from Cambridge, and one from GSU (Turkey). Yay!

EUDC 2008 officially opened

After a few days of frenzy but relaxed preparations, judge tests, ESL interviews, and pre-Council deciding to accept Wales as an official EUDC country, convenor Helina Loor has officially declared Euros 2008 open.

Your German Correspondent will be blogging Euros, and we'll try to get you as much information as possible. So far, the organizers have been threatening us with Sauna visits and cheap beer, so we are very afraid of what is coming next.

This is going to be a great competition - we are prepared to be estonished!

Oh, and could please someone tell the Queen about Wales? Cheers!