"Se Germans" are back

Hello everyone,

After recovering from Worlds on the ski slopes, I'll be blogging the Jacobs Open 2009 over at "Achte Minute".

Cheers,
Henrik

Congratulations to all

Our most sincere congratulations to all winners, top speakers, and finalists on their achievements!

Well done!

We're off to the Ball now ... Drinks await.

Winners Grand Final

Oxford A

After votes on all teams, three teams, and two final votes, resulting in 4-3-2 and 5-4 split decisions respectively.

Can Okar told us that one judge had originally voted for 1P, but after the discussion the split was 4 for 2P, 3 for 1O and 2 for 2O; the latter two then changed to 1O to have them win.

Winners ESL

BBU A

WUDC 2009 Results - Teams upcoming

Derek just thanked the organizers, led by Art; the DCA Panel; Bob Nimmo, the tabmaster; Danny P McCarthy, the Assistant Chief Adjudicator; and the participants.

Winners EFL

Vilnius A

WUDC 2009 Results - Speakers

Please excuse/correct typos!

EFL Speakers

5 Elena Zhukova
4 Laura Horvath
3 Lea Tafra
2 Yevgenia Golubova
1 Aiste Dumbryte

ESL Speakers

5 Adam Hildebrandt (yay!)
4 Yoni Cohen
3 Sela Nevo
2 Simone van Elk
1 Leela Koenig

Best speakers of the competition

10 Harish Natarajan (Cambridge C)
8 James Dray (Oxford A)
8 John Leader Maynard (Oxford C)
7 Sheng Wu Li (Oxford B)
5 Julia Featherston (Sydney A)
5 Steve Hind (Sydney B)
3 Fiona Prowse (Monash A)
3 Amit Golder (Monash A)
2 Tim Mooney (Sydney A)
1 Naomi Oreb (Sydney B)

Public Vote on the Motion

The motion failed; the Nays have it.

First Winners Announced

Comedy Competition:
Willard Foxton

Masters Team:
Ireland - Ross McGuire and Gregg O'Neill

Masters Individual:
Barry Glynn
(Honorable Mentions to Willard Foxton, Doug Cochran, Derek Doyle)

Public Speaking:
Patrick Bateman

Congratulations to all!

Entertainment ensues

There is now an entertainment program, currently featuring a traditional Irish a cappella band, which gives us and especially my thumbs a chance to relax a little ...

First Ideas on the Grand Final

A quick survey of first ideas suggests that people think that Oxford C, Harvard A, or Oxford A could very possibly have won.

I personally have my hopes still set on Oxford A, who have presented an amazing case beyond eloquence.

Art is currently doing thank yous, which are clearly all very well deserved.

First Ideas on the Grand Final

A quick survey of first ideas suggests that people think that Oxford C, Harvard A, or Oxford A could very possibly have won.

I personally have my hopes still set on Oxford A, who have presented an amazing case beyond eloquence.

Art is currently doing thank yous, which are clearly all very well deserved.

2. CO Speech

- Reliance on unknown potentiality of life extreme interpretation

- Status of fetus
- Plausible that mother's individ rights override other
- Everytime I miss an opportunity to have sex and create life, I commit murder under their definition ...
- Life might be, but does not have to be, cf we could all go to hell if we don't go to church, the state still does not force us

- Phil can justify abortion prior to mother, but impact does not justify excl from moral decision making

- Save the life imperative is relative ... Sometimes other people's rights override

2. CG Speech

- What is a fetus
- Moral debate ... must have max moral protection
- Other kinds of people also have full rights, eg life support
- Prospect of dev differs life vs not life anymore

- Women's rights
- Being a mother is not moral equiv to being murdered
- Consent to sex extends to full range of possibilities

- Role of state
- State to step in
# missed a bit
- No equiv tradeoff to killing fetus shown by gov

1. CO Speech

- Arbitrary line:
agency answered difficult but not arbitrary
not total scientific consensus does not mean having to adhere to one of the extremes

- Viability ... Self direction not possible until certain stage, further often giving the family the right to switch off life support, eg when born in coma

- Potentiality is not enough ... crazy world bc pot starts earlier down the line

- Role of state
- Should the state force those believing otherwise to forego what is individual moral judgment
- Quality of life consideration

1. CG Speech

- Who gets to decide?
- Existence of third party makes this different
- Existing society wide presumption to favor life over convenience
- Full moral consideration necessary given that Opp conceded that baby is alive
- Silence of third party is not consent

- Women's rights
- Mother's don't get to kill baby, cf switching off life support and will/consent
- Parents take rights from child ... also don't allow retribution
- Rights of mother even in case of right to have fun stops at right of baby

Fantastic rebuttal to Will and James.

2. OO Speech

- Women who have sex consent to motherhood? ... Insane
- Why is phys harm the only harm conceded by gov
- Control over body effectively with state ... as sort of baby factory
- Rebuilding the idea of mental harms through pregnancy

- Still masses of unwanted pregnancies ... woman with coat hanger, cf 60s in GB ... support is with doctors
- Summary rant to wrap it up

Excellent, Oxford A!

2. OG Speech

Assume that Opp is happy to have abortion whenever

- Nature of sex implies consequences ... ceded autonomy
- Makes people more aware ... Condoms with 99.9% safety
- Full life can still be had despite pregnancy

PoI James reiterating self concept

- disenfranchisement by gov bc poor people are driven into abortion bc of missing support services
- Disenfranchisement of men ... Should have a say in that decision # same thing other way around?

1. OO Speech

- Odd that OG concede to taking life in sit of self defence
- Backstreet w coat hanger vs doctor
- Still justified when saving life of another

- Scenarios where this could still be justified,
eg Siamese twins: self defence against attacker on part of mother
Zombies attacking in the back street

-> when woman feels that there is a danger posed by the fetus, can act in self defence

- when woman at fault: can still be pregnant when all forms of contraception fails

Wow, what an argument ...

1. OG Speech

- Value of life
- Fundamental ground for all rights
- Stage drawn arbitrary
- Active decision to end life ... akin to murder ... diff to contraception

PoI from Will on rape

- Phys and mental trauma
- Women seeking abortion little able to comprehend
- Phys damages from procedure as phys harm
- Knowledge to have taken life as mental harm

- Pregnancy point is at sex w/o contraception understood

Final Judges

Derek Lande
Erin O'Brien
Ivan Ah Sam
Rory Gillis
Sam Block
Julia Bowes
Sayeq Islam
Can Okar
Jason Rodgers

Pairings and Motion

1G Monash B
1O Oxford A
2G Harvard A
2O Oxford C

TH would ban abortion in all stages of pregnancy.

Finals Ceremony Has Started

The UCC Philosophical and Law Societies have commenced their joint session that is the Grand Final of the 29th World Universities Debating Championships.
The Recording Officer is currently reporting on the past few days ...

A word on the ESL final motion

I really think this was a rather poor motion, specifically for a final. I don't quite understand why it was set, and I have heard many similar comments. This is probably one of the reasons why people want an ESL-DCA, just to prevent this kind of motions for finals. Sorry Derek and all the others, but the question really is: "But WHY"?

Analysis ESL Final

Jens and I both think that serious cases could be made for OG and CG, while our hopes are with Hertie. I've also heard a case for CO.

If this comes down to role fulfilment, setting up the debate and arguments in the face of adversity, the prop really should have it.

Many people from the audience left inbetween speeches, which wasn't exactly motivating to speakers. Somebody talk to Derek about that motion ...

ESL Final 2. CO Speech

Salar:

On football and economics ...

- Fans should decide what a fav club is
- People support all sorts of things
- Doesn't harm nat competition ... # not sure whether this is not new

- Football club as entertainment companies in free market, eg through specialization exp/imp ... # relatively analysis free to my taste
- Taking away opportunities

Over and out until the Final ...

Semifinal Results

Oxford C
Harvard A
Oxford A
Monash B

ESL Final 2. CG Speech

Nico:

Off to a round of really detailed examples that I don't get ...

- Getting best players on market ... Football clubs have other duty, social, comm based ... # but why is that?
- Protectionism other than in trade ... Here the show comes from national competition
- On resources and dev ... England does not have good goalkeepers due to misdev

I would've liked sth sharper in terms of analysis, but there certainly were quite a few bright spots in this ...

ESL Final 1. CO Speech

Rutger:

It all comes down to economics ...

Indicates a ton of rebuttal and substantive

- I support teams bc they are cool ...
- Sports about sportsmanship, not outgroup dynamics due to identification
- On dev ... # nothing new
- On national teams ... # that rebuttal does not support opp

- Premier league good entertainment companies, therefore so popular ... should give them all business opportunities
- Cf music, on nat regulation in markets

The substantive sounded promising, but was far too short ...

ESL Final 1. CG Speech

Nicoletta:

- Football vs economics ... Diminishing returns impact differently, other factors at play
- Benefit to teams with players ... Must connect with team ... Otherwise devotion only to big money
- LT sustainability ... # we've had that one before

Let's see ...

ESL Final 2. OO Speech

Simone:

- If players are good, they might as well play anywhere
- Why do we want more fans ... Not explained ... # ah, well ...
- Bad domestic clubs not necessarily improve
- Player dev still takes place ... They must come from somewhere

- Dev of players occurs due to RoI considerations
- Clubs are regionally based and vested ... Fan base not nec national
- Club management is also consideration ... cf decline of Ajax

Still not sure as to the focus on pos matter in OO ...

ESL Final 2.OG Speech

Alena - Bremen power, yay:

- Rebuilding the identification argument
- Believe in local talent, just needs development ... higher chances here
- Fair competition among smaller clubs, all clubs

- Sponsoring and prestige
- Spirit to the team
- Functioning of global markets ... Focus on prestige players hampers dev of others due to fin reasons

Decent contribution ...

ESL Final 1. OO Speech

Leela:

- Boring
- Unappealing to fans
- Gov money not involved

Rebuttal:
- Domestic talent not that good
- Development in place ... But is an improvement lever
- Identification is with good teams, not home teams
- And look at all those cute poor kids from Sth America rising to the top

- Public proud of own club when they see stars from abroad wanting to come
- Good sponsorship does good to teams

V good rebuttal in my opinion ...

ESL Final 1. OG Speech

And off we go ... I'm posting from my mobile, so please excuse concision and typos. I really should have got my E71 before Christmas ...

Adam:
- Good football is many people's interest, but in crisis - historical sentiment
- Leaving out development
- 75% of domestic players in Champions League domestic

- Fans lack identification with clubs ... Clubs just buy according to pocket
- Cultural element in fanhood
- Plan will help develop domestic talent, due to shift in focus ... Kids will benefit also
- Beneficial impact on national teams

I think we're off to a good start ...

ESL Final

Pairings:

1G Hertie School of Governance A
1O Leiden A
2G BBU A
2O Bonaparte B

Motion:

TH would implement quotas for domestic players in national football leagues.

"But why?" is an overheard comment.

My best wishes to Hertie ... may Adam's illness not stand in their way!

ESL Final To Commence Shortly

Worlds participants are quickly moving on to another venue to watch the ESL Final ... and we're excited!

Just now, I got to sit in one of the semis ... kudos to Will Jones already for a summary that was just mental ... in a very good way :-)

Motions

EFL Final:
TH would prohibit all private healthcare.

Semifinals:
TH believes governments should subsidize private home ownership.

Semifinal/EFL Final Pairings

Good morning everyone,

We're near perfectly on time for a day like this and Derek is conducting the draws for the immediately upcoming debates.

Semifinals:

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

1G Vic Wellington A
1O Harvard A
2G Oxford C
2O UQ A

EFL Final:

1G Zagreb A
1O Vilnius A
2G Bucharest A
2O Zagreb B

Judges for Final Day

Semifinals:
Anna Garsia
Bob Nimmo
Can Okar
Christopher Bishop
Danny P McCarthy
Erin O'Brien
Ian Lising
Ivan Ah Sam
Jason Rodgers
Julia Bowes
Neil Harvey-Smith
Rosy Gillis
Sam Block
Sharmila Parmanand

EFL Final:
Ciaran Lawlor
Daniel Warents
Doug Cochran
Jenni Harrison
Kirsty Russel
Lewis Iwu
Samir Deger-Sen
Steve Johnson
Tiernan Fitzgibbon

ESL Final:
Christopher Croke
Colm Flynn
Daniel Warents
Derek Lande
Elizabeth Ames
Gavin Illsley
Iqbal Hafiedz
Sayeqa Islam
Tim Jeffrie

Turns out, Irish night did not feature complimentary hot whisky ... but the bar at the Clarion was more than helpful.
Strictly bedtime now!

Semis/ESL Finals Announcement

Semis:

Oxford A
Oxford B
Monash B
Manchester A

Harvard A
Vic Wellington A
UQ A
Oxford C

ESL Final:

Leiden A
Bonaparte B
BBU A
Hertie School of Governance A (yeah!)

Main Semis and ESL Final Break Coming Up Shortly

Derek just announced that there is only one panel still deliberating , which should be done in about 15 mins ... We curiously await the publication of the break to rounds tomorrow morning.
I do, however, feel for all who will have to deal with the thought of speaking tomorrow starting tonight already - maybe the announcement should be done tomorrow ... Then again, that would deprive some of their sorrow drinks tonight (hot whisky, finally?) and all others probably can't sleep tonight, anyway.

Motion Main Quarters/ESL Semis

THB that the International Criminal Court should prosecute crimes against the democratic process.

Cool.

ESL Semis

1G Galatasaray A
1O Bonaparte B
2G Tallinn A
2O Leiden A

1G Haifa A
1O BBU A
2G Hertie School of Governance A
2O Tel Aviv A

QF Pairings

1G, 1O, 2G, 2O respectively ...

Princeton A
TCD Phil B
Manchester A
Monash B

Oxford A
UCD L&H A
Nottingham A
Oxford B

Loyola A
Harvard A
Helsinki A
Vic Wellington A

UQ A
Oxford C
MIT A
Hart House B

Motion announcement delayed

BBU didn't get the message that ESL Semis would run in parallel with Main Quarters (on the same motion), which is why the CAs have made the sensible decision to postpone the motion announcement to 1500, which is in roughly 25 mins ...

Missing Quarters Teams - with positions

Momash B - CO
Princeton A - OG
Manchester A - CG
TCD Phil B - OO

Breaking to Quarters

Nottingham A
UCD L&H A
Oxford A
Oxford B
Harvard A
Loyola A
Vic Wellington A
Helsinki A
Hart House A
MIT A
UQ A
Oxford C

Missed few and will follow up ...

Live blogging continues

Henrik and I will continue to update this blog, so stay tuned! Also, we are very excited to see how many people around the globe are reading our news. However, noone from Mongolia has tuned in yet - we wonder if that can be rectified?

A few notes from yesterday's Worlds Council

Here is a list of things that Council discussed yesterday - I'll update this list with more information later:

- The Koc 2010 bid for Worlds was ratified. CA Can Okar had announced a few days back that he chose the following as DCAs: Will Jones (Oxford) for Europe, Julia Bowes (Sydney) for Oceania, Suthen Tate Thomas(MMU) for Asia and Josh Bone (Yale) for America.

- Botswana was accepted to host Worlds 2011 on what was their third consecutive bid.

- ESL/EFL: Council discussed the issue and whether "the right teams" had been put into the respective categories. Two results were that in another renaming attempt, "ENL" (English as a native language) will from now on be called "EPL" (English as a proficient language), to indicate that not only natural speakers can fall into this category. Also, Council decided to give the ESL/EFL committee some discretion in determining critical cases, and thus loosening up the very strict criteria that had been decided upon at Assumption Worlds.

Octo-finals: Draw and motion

This is from Colm Flynn's site:

Motion Octo-finals: "This house would arm local militia to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan."

16 Monash B
17 Manchester A
1 Sydney B
32 Stanford A

Judges: Jason Rodgers, Rory Gillis, Kirsty Russell, Tiernan Fitzgibbon, Ross McGuire

24 Queens Uni A
8 Princeton A
25 Yale A
9 TCD Phil B

Judges: Anna Garcia, Ivan AhSam, Ian Lising, Morgan Shelly, Adriaan Andringa

20 Brandeis A
29 Nottingham A
4 Monash A
13 UCD L&H A

Judges: Steve Johnson, Gavin Illsey, Bernadette Angungio, Lewis Chisom Iwu, Willard Foxton

5 Oxford A
28 Yale B
12 Oxford B
21 Swarthmore A

Judges: Sayeqa Islam, Tim Jeffrie, Josh Martin, David Middlemiss, Sani Ismail

3 Cambridge C
30 McGill A
19 MIT A
14 Hart House B

Judges: Julia Bowes, Derek Lande, Sasha Bodero-Smith, Yauhemi Akulich, Chris Bishop

27 Sydney C
22 Uni Queensland A
6 Oxford C
11 Canterbury A

Judges: Can Okar, Bob Nimmo, Shamila Parmamail, Michael Clark, Gregg O'Neill

2 Sydney A
15 Harvard A
31 Loyola A
18 Hart House A

Judges: Samir Deger Sen, Erin O'Brien, Derek Doyle, Claire Lindsey, David Tait

26 Auckland A
10 Helsinki A
7 Seattle A
23 Vic Wellington A

Judges: Sam Block, Elizabeth Ames, Steph Paton, Suthen Thomas, Neil Harvey-Smith.

Masters Final and Public Speaking Final Right Now

The Masters and Public Speaking Finals are going at the moment. Willard Foxton is trying to win the Unholy Trinity together with the Comedy competition.

Public Speaking was immensely entertaining, incl. explanations as to the workings of the British military and the ultimate recipe for success in debate and life.
Masters, held in the Irish Times format, are still running on the motion that THB that the end of capitalism is nigh.

Jens is on the Masters panel, which is chaired by Michael Clarke. After that, we're curious as to what 'Culture Clash' has in store.

Results will be announced after the Grand Final, together with all the other ones.

Preposterous hotel policy, but happy new year!

Henrik's plans outlined below were indeed spoiled when we found out that participants staying at Jury's were not even allowed to enter the Clarion Hotel.

This is probably not the OrgComms fault, but for a 4-star-hotel that claims to have an international standard, this policy to us just does not seem acceptable. We were actually told that we could go in, but only to stay on a sofa right next to the hotel entrance, to be "supervised". With all do respect, but we are not three-year-olds. And yes, people tend to behave strangely on New Year`s (you should have seen the odd crowds on the street last night), but this is not a proper way to "solve" the issue.

Not to be distracted about those issues: Happy new year to everyone! We'll keep you posted on the break progression, but today is the usual day off, with many people going off to excursions around southern Ireland, others going to Council, and people like me hanging out lazily in the hotel room and about to go to the pool area.

First Serious Complaint

It's two o'clock in the morning - a very Happy New Year to everyone - and participants are disgruntled to find that we're being kicked out of the party venue. We're sure there is a good reason, in light of the otherwise excellent organization ... for the moment, however, we're a little sad and will have to take apart the hotel bar instead.

Isa, Jens, and I are off to the Clarion Hotel ... I shall moreover have a look at the Jury's Hotel parties later ...

Cheers!

Breaking Judges

This was announced very quickly, sorry for all typos and misspellings. Please tell us if you have any additions or corrections.

Adriaan Adringa
Andrew Marshall
Anna Garcia
Ben Jasper
Bernadette Angungio
Beth Conner
Bob Nimmo
Can Okar
Catherine Richardson
Chris Bishop
Chris Croke
Ciaran Lawlor
Claire Lindsay
Colm Flynn
Connor O'Brien
Danny P McCarthy
Daniel Warents
Daniel (?)
David Middlemiss
David Tait
Derek Doyle
Derek Lande
Doug Cochran
Elizabeth Ames
Erin Fitzgerald
Erin O'Brien
Gavin Illsley
Gregg O'Neill
Ian Lising
Iqbal Hafiedz
Isa Loewe (yay!)
Ivan Ah Sam
Jason Rodgers
Jenny Harrison
Jens Fischer
Josh Martin
Julia Bowes
Katherine Connoly
Kirsty Russell
Lewis Iwu
Michael Clark
Morgan Shelly
Neill Harvey-Smith
Nicole Lynch
Rory Gillis
Ross McGuire
?
Sam Block
Samir Deger-Sen
Sani Ismail
Sasha Bodero-Smith
Sayeka Islam
Shamila Parmamail
Stephanie Paton
Steven Johnson
Suthen Tate Thomas
Tiernan Fitzgibbon
Tim Jeffrie
Tony Murphy
Willard Foxton
Eugene Akulich

Reserve Judges:

Mark Longhurst
Neill Dewar
Patrick Bateman
Stacey McAvoy
Jeremy Kinsella
?

Follow up - Masters Final

1 UK - Willard Foxton & James Prior
2 UK - Doug Cochran & Sam Block
3 US - Rachel & Arama (? Sorry... Help us!)
4 Ireland - Derek Doyle & Lorcan Price

Individuals (it's Irish Times Format!)

Daniel Warents
Beth Conner
Barry Glynn
Ian Lising

Main Break ... The fastest in the world

1 Sydney B (22)
2 Sydney A
3 Cambridge C
4 Monash A (21)
5 Oxford A
6 Oxford C
7 Seattle A (20)
8 Princeton A
9 TCD Phil B
10 Helsinki A
11 Canterbury A
12 Oxford B (19)
13 UCD L&H A
14 Hart House B
15 Harvard A
16 Monash B
17 Manchester A
18 Hart House A
19 MIT A
20 Brandeis A
21 Swarthmore A
22 Queensland A (18)
23 Vic Wellington A
24 Queens Uni A
25 Yale A
26 Auckland A
27 Sydney C
28 Yale B
29 Nottingham A
30 McGill A
31 Loyola A
32 Stanford A

ESL

1 Leiden A (17)
2 Tel Aviv A
3 BBU A (16)
4 Bonaparte B
5 Tallinn A
6 Hertie School of Governance A
7 Haifa A (15)
8 Galatasaray A

EFL Break

1 Vilnius A (14)
2 Zagreb A
3 Bucharest A
4 Zagreb B (13)

Finalists Public Speaking

1 Patrick Bateman
2 James Akron
3 Michael Emerson
3 Sarah Ingelman
3 Willard Foxton

Masters Break

... Danny P is too fast ... We'll follow up ...

Thank yous

Derek is thanking the tab staff for making this such an on time success: Bob, Steven, Maureen ...

Danny P is thanking the ballot master, Rowan, the room master, Ross, and the feedback master, James.

Break Announcement

They're about to announce the break, as indicated to us by Convenor Art Ward just now. About 200 national anthems are being sung in parallel ...