As Henrik said: Mobile phone beats computer!

The interesting pairings that I could take down (not necessarily representing the correct positions):

Sydney B
Monash A
Oxford B
Sydney A

Victoria Wellington A
Victoria Wellington B
Hertie School A
GUU B

Oxford A
Cambridge C
UCD L&H A
Seattle A

Melbourne A
Bristol C
Princeton A
Princeton B

UBC A
TCD Hist A
Yale C
Yale B

Motion Round 9

Hi everyone,

This is Henrik - trying to be faster by mobile than Jens by the computer outside. We're testing this, because we want to bring the Break to you tonight, regardless of the WLAN situation at the venue.

The motion for Round 9, the last preliminary round of this year's Worlds, is:
"TH would ban the publication of all political opinion polls."

Jens will follow up with a few interesting pairings ...

Motion R8

"This House would apply a lower rate of income tax to women."

Comments?

Institutional matches I recorded (team letters not necessarily correct):

Yale A vs. Yale B
Sydney A vs. Sydney C
Monash A vs. Monash B

Concerning official results

I talked to CA Derek Lande yesterday about obtaining teams' results after R6 because many people have an interest in them, obviously. His (preliminary) answer was that the will probably not release anything before the break, because of several teams that did not have any points as of now, and because some people might feel that this was unfair to them. I do not share those concerns, but it is obviously not my call.

So we will need to rely on backtabbing and people that post their results here. When I get updates I'll let you know.

Results after R6

From what Isa collected (thank you!), but without guarantee for accuracy. Who has more results?

Bonaparte A 9
Bonaparte B 12
Oxford A 14
Oxford B 16
Oxford C 12
Leiden A 11
Leiden B 9
Galatasaray A 9
Deree A 9
Bilkent A 8
Koc A 11
Koc B 6
Hertie School of Governance 11
U of Indonesia 10
Erasmus 9
BBU A 10
Sydney A 15
Sydney B 16
Sydney C 14
Monash A 15
Monash B 13
Monash C 13
Yale A 13
Yale B 16
KCL A 13
Helsinki A 12
Helsinki B 8
Helsinki C 7
HSE Moscow A 9
Moscow State B 10
Zagreb A 9
Zagreb B 9
Galway A 12
Galway B 11
Galway C 10
Vilnius A 10
METU A 8
Stuttgart 7
Victoria A 15
Victoria B 12
ANU A 12
Queens B 12

Motion R7

Finally: The IR motion of the competition.

"This House believes that the Western States should recognize the independence of Abchazia."

I'll try to find more results from previous rounds to post them here.

Start of day 3

The organizers continue to prove that they are nice people: Since it is very cold in some buildings due to the weather conditions and insufficient heating, they have started to hand out tea and coffee to prepping teams, as well as complimentary gloves. Convenor Art Ward acknowledged that "there are people here from countries with a much warmer climate". Even though this is not true in the case of Germany, we still appreciate this attentiveness very much!

Motion R6

"This House would criminalize adultery."

Awww....

A few results after R5

Bonaparte C 6
Bonaparte B 9
Bonaparte A 6
St. Gallen 5
Galway A 9
Zagreb A 8
Deree A 9
Deree B 5
Deree C 5
Oxford A 12
Oxford B 13
Oxford C 12
Galatasaray A 8
Koc A 8
Koc B 5
BBU A 7
MIT A 11
Manchester A 12
Manchester B 6
Wellington A 13
Cambridge C 12
Seattle U A 11
Portland A 9
Alaska B 9
Muenster A 6
IIUM A 8
Ateneo A 7
Sydney B 12
Monash A 13
HSG A 10

This is all hearsay. Thank you Isa for collecting them! Anyone else with results?

Motion R5

"This House Believes that China and India should bear the same obligations as the West in fighting climate change."

From what I gather are pairings in top rooms, though I do not know ranking points:

Monash A
KCL A
Sydney B
Oxford A

Cambridge A
Harthouse B
Nottingham A
Oxford B

Sydney A
UCD L&H B
ANU A
Princeton A

Sydney C
Oxford C
Cambridge A
UCD L&H A

A few general remarks

Since the A-team has managed to start R4 on time, everyone is right now enjoying a proper lunch break - debates will continue in 40 minutes. This gives me a little time to tell you about general observation on this competition.

I must say: The overall impression is still overwhelmingly positive, and I am very glad to be here. First and foremost: Unlike previous Worlds experiences, everyone is ALWAYS friendly and competent. The volunteers very effectively at least pretend to be interested in one's thoughts and experiences, and possibly they actually are (no offense intended).

Directions across the UCC campus and all around are very clear, and at least we have never had trouble to find a room or the next bus to take us back to our hotel or the socials.

Concerning the food: The breakfast is certainly the best meal of the day, but the rest is not really bad either. It's the usual sandwiches for lunch (which we will grow less fond of in about a day), and OK dinner, so no worries.

The two big hotels are quite luxurious, both with pool and everything. It is challenging though to get a hot shower in the morning, and the Internet connection is failing because too many people try to log on simultaneously. This is not the fault of the orgcomm, however it probably should not happen in a 4-star-hotel.

Even the weather is playing along: We had a bit of frost, and it has not been raining since we arrived. Since frost is quite rare in Ireland, the country is not really prepared for this case, though. So the salt they used to melt the ice between buildings looks like it was taken from the cantine, but who cares?

I'll try to get some info on where teams are standing to report, but if participants are reading this, they might want to add information they have themselves?

Motion R4

The audience welcomed the motion for R4 with cheers:

"This House would force the religious desegregation of Northern Irish schools."

It's certainly not the Ireland motion many have been expecting, but it certainly is a great one. Let's just hope everyone will understand "desegregation" properly.

Motion R3

The motion for round 3 is:

"This House would allow Soldiers to sue their governments for negligence."

Amongst the many entertaining pairings for this round, here are two amusing ones:

Cambridge A
Cambridge B
Oxford A
Queensland (don't know which team)

Monash A
Monash B
Sydney A
Bates College A

Motion R2

Sorry for the delayed publication, but unfortunately I cannot access the network here via my computer, only through public ones.

Enough with the whining, the motion in round 2 was:

"This House would fire the senior management of all corporations which receive government bailouts."

Interesting!

Motion R1

With a little bit of delay, R1 has just been announced:

"This House would ban all forms of gambling."

Cork Worlds getting started in style

The first impression of Cork Worlds is a very positive one. After an overall relaxed registration yesterday (with a few people not so happy about their room allocations) and a nice party at the respective hotel bars, the first day is going quite swimmingly.

After very comprehensive briefings (well done!) now the usual preparations are going on, like the adjudication test and ESL/EFL-interviews. Lunch was enjoyable, and the whole team makes a very organized impression: overhearing the walkie-talkie-communications alone is impressive.

Most of the delegates have arrived by now, and there is a great mood of expectation for the days to come.

Tonight pre-council will meet, with possibly many cases of eligibility to be discussed. Rounds will start tomorrow morning.

And, most surprisingly, the weather is very cold, but also sunny. My last time in Cork was for Euros 2005, and back then it had been raining consistently. It's only now that I realize they were not lying to us: It actually is a very nice city!

I'll keep you posted - or as they would say here: Over, and out.

Cork Worlds 2009 coming up.

It's that time of the year again... 1000 delegates from all over the world are gathering for WUDC in Cork. Great! It's an Irish (and worldwide) dream come true. We are very much looking forward to this great event - and Your German Correspondent will be trying to capture the picture of this epitome of world debate.

That is: After we have gotten our rental car in Dublin to drive across Ireland tomorrow morning . Let's see if the credit card is still any good after Christmas!