Congratulations

Congratulations to all winners and runners up of WUDC 2011!

Special shout out to Lazar, Ehmann, & Saliba.

We need a drink now ...

WUDC 2011 Results - Open Break

Winning Team:
Monash A

WUDC 2011 Results - ESL

Winning Team:
Haifa A

WUDC 2011 Results - EFL

Winning Team:
Tokyo B

WUDC 2011 Results - Speakers

Disclaimer on spelling of names ...

Comedy:
U China, Wu Wu ?

Public Speaking:
1) Christelle Thomson, Jamaica
2) Jack Gamble, Cambrdige
3) Danny Blackman, Cornell

Masters:
Scotland (Alex Just & Eusebius McKaiser)

Best Speakers

EFL

5) Unisa Adi..., Ghadjamadra A
4) Ilianta?, Ghadjamadra A
3) Visa Adriani?, Indonesia A
2) Simon Belak, Ljubljana C
1) Andreas Lazar, Stuttgart A

Congrats!

ESL

5) Patrick Ehmann, Berlin A
4) Michael Saliba , Stuttgart A
3) Rob Honig, Leiden B
2) Ljubljana A, Maja Simova
1) Filip Dubranovic, Ljubljana A

Open Break

10) Stephanie Bell, Oxford C
9) Brent Kettles, Hart House A
8) Neve?, TCD Hist B
7) Patrick Halliwell, Sydney B
6) Doug Chochran, Cambridge A
4) Ben Woolgar, Oxford A
4) Bronwyn Cole, Syndey A
3) Fiona Prowse, Monash A
2) Tim Mooney, Sydney A
1) Victor Finkel, Monash A

Two Best Volunteers:
Grant? & Onhe?

Congratulations to all!

WUDC 2011 Results Announcement Impending

Starting now ...

WUDC 2011: Open Break Grand Final Finished

The Grand Final just closed out.
Tracking commentary is on Twitter.

All teams good, will be a hard decision. I thought CO were a little late on extension, OO internally contradictory on one point and OG anticipated sth on sovereignty that wasn't contested. So much for the bads.

If you ask me, CG has a very good chance - they certainly gave two consistently excellent speeches.

Now off to the dinner & awards venue ...

WUDC 2011: Open Break Grand Final Motion

TH would invade Zimbabwe

WUDC 2011: Open Break Final - Draw and Judges

OG: Monash A
OO: Oxford A
CG: Sydney A
CO: LSE A

Judges:
Logan, Anat Gelber, Vivek, Mary Nugent, Phil Barker, Adam Goldstein, Isabelle Loewe, Tate, Michael?

Congrats to Isa on that achievement!
So some German participation in a Final after all ...

WUDC 2011: ESL Final Underway

We're on whip speeches now.
Organizers didn't call us back in, so I missed half the PM speech. The model seems to revolve around size of parties - this was briefly ciriticized, but hasn't influenced the debate much.

General trend seems to be that principles were debated at the top of the table and bottom is focusing on implementation-related extensions with ties to principle. The latter has worked surprisingly well in many cases at this Worlds. Seems like debateland is moving back closer to reality ;)

I am leaning somewhat towards opp, but the speeches in opening were of different strength, and closing might be focusing a little much on the idea that if the problem that OG presented exists, this is the fault of "broken democracy" in the first place. Strong performance from CG as well, so this will be a suspenseful one until tonight ...

WUDC 2011: ESL Final

Motion:
THBT courts should break up consistently dominant political parties

Draw:
OG: Haifa A
OO: Ljubljana A
CG: UCTI A
CO: Leiden B

EFL Final Underway

PM prosposed to give double the votes (in any election, I guess) to those in the bottom 20% income bracket in Western Liberal Democracies.

I had immense trouble with listening comprehension with Tokyo B, but thought that also in terms of their labels they were quite confusing. Zagreb launched quite the attack, but may have been a little lighthearted on the analysis. Speaking from experience, you also need to beat the analysis cow to death in OO in a Worlds final ... ;)
Second half is looking much better to my mind - both structurally and analytically.

Won't be able to make a call, though, so be sure to check on results tonight ...

Thought of the Moment

Military barracks are an interesting place to host a Final.

EFL Grand Final Motion

TH would give more votes to the poor.

EFL Final Draw

Judges:
Tim Jeffries, Yoni Cohen, Will Jones, TJ, Steve Johnson, Kimera (not exhaustive)

OG: Tokyo B
OO: Zagreb A
CG: Venezuela A
CO: Belgrade A

Tbc, they need to speak more slowly ...

WUDC 2011: Open Break Final

Teams advancing to the Final:

LSE A
Monash A

Oxford A
Sydney A

WUDC 2011: Semi-Final Motion

Just to catch up on this - the motion for the Open Break Semi Final was:

TH opposes organized religion

Buses to the Finals venue depart ~14:00 local; then it's 12 hours of Finals, Awards, and hopefully food and drink.

Time to get the tux back out ...

WUDC 2011: Open Semis; EFL & ESL Break to Finals

Open Semis

Monash A
LSE A

Sydney A
Sydney B

Oxford A
Cambridge A

Sydney D
Yale C

EFL

Zagreb A
Venezuela B (tbc)

Belgrade B
Tokyo B

ESL

UCTI A
Haifa A

Ljubljana A
Leiden B

Missing ze Germanz ...

WUDC 2011: EFL & ESL Semifinal Draws

EFL Semifinals

Dikti A - OG
Venezuela B - OO
Zagreb A - CG
Venezuela A - CO

J: Chris, Masako, Mike Aguilera, Sam Block, Daniel Kaliski, Lucinda, Tom Williamson

Indonesia B - OG
Belgrade B - OO
Gadjahmada B - CG
Tokyo B - CO

J: Duncan Campbell, Aji abu, Kimera, Jens Fischer, Tuna, Daniel Warents, Matthew Butler Adams

Motion:
TH supports a one state solution for the Israeli - Palestinian conflict

ESL Semifinals

UTMara B - OG
Haifa A - OO
Lahore A - CG
UCTI A - CO

J: Will Jones, Phil Barker, Steve Nolan,
TJ, Simone van Elk, Andrew McMillan, Logan

Stuttgart A - OG
Leiden B - OO
Ljubljana A - CG
Ljubljana C - CO

J: Nick Long, Isa Loewe, Josh Martin, Ciaran Lawlor, Ely Zosa, Michael Hsiao, Latif

Motion:
TH would prefer that the children of racial minorities be adopted by parents of that race

WUDC 2011: Open Quarters & ESL Semis Break

Open Quarters:

Monash A
Kings Inn A

Sydney A
NUS A

Cambridge A
Monash B

McGill A
Oxford C

Sydney D
Yale C

Oxford A
UNSW A

Sydney B
Melbourne A

LSE A
Cambridge B

ESL Semis:

Lahore A
Haifa A

Ljubljana A
Ljubljana C

Leiden B
Stuttgart A

UCTI A
UTMara B

Quartes Set-up:

Monash A - OO
King's Inn A - OG
Cambridge B - CG
LSE A - CO

J: Anat Gelber, Steve Johnson, Joanna Connoly, Kim Ahyoung, Alex Just

Sydney A - OO
NUS A - CG
Sydney B - OG
Melbourne A - CO

J: Erin Fitzgerald, Richard Lau, Chanelle, Tate, Vivek

Monash B - OG
Cambridge A - CO
Oxford A - CG
UNSW A - OO

J: Julia Baine, John Worgan, Michel Baine

Oxford C - OG
McGill A - CG
Sydney D - OO
Yale C - CO

J: Nita Rao, Tim, Steven Boyle, Deirdre, Adam Goldstein

Open Quarters Motion:
THBT courts should not enforce wills that discriminate on the basis of race

ESL Semis & EFL Semis draws at 16:00.

WUDC 2011: Octofinals & ESL Quarterfinals

Octos:

TH would buy countries votes in international organisations

ESL Quarters:

THBT domestic courts should try foreign nationals who commit war crimes abroad

Colm has created a graphical representation of both Open and ESL elimination rounds progression.

Self-Organization

I just returned from the Yakka Punch party. It was privately organized by some of the ZA contingent. It was the first Worlds style proper social. It also reminded me of one of the signs I'd seen around UofB recently.

Good night!

Breaking News: WUDC 2013 goes to Berlin

Worlds Council just voted on the Zagreb vs. Berlin Bids for Worlds 2013:

Berlin - 87
Zagreb - 9

This is fantastic!

Break Announcement

Here it is - they may be short on beer, but we have G&Ts and cigars.

Judges

Adam Goldstein
Athica?
?
Alex Just
Anat Gelber
Andrew McMillan
Ben Jasper
Chanelle Carr
Chris Bisset
Ciaran Lawlor
Daniel Galisky
Daniel Warents
David Stephens
David Watson
Deirdre Milner
Duncan Campell
Ellie?
Eoin Kilkenny
Erin Fitzgerald
Eusebius McKaiser
Gavin Illsley
?Paris
Isabelle Loewe
Jens Fischer
?Jolenne
Joe Roussos
Jonathan Pierce
Josh Harding
Julia Bain
Kim Ay Jung
?
Latif
Leela Koenig
Lewis Iwu
Richard Lizius
Lucinda David
Luke Daniel McGreevy
Marie Nugent
Masako Suzuki
Mattew Butler Evans
Michael Aguilera
Micheal Bear
Michael S?
Matt Dwyer
Nick Long
Nita?
Phil Barker
Phil Williams
Rich ?
Richard Läu
?
Sam Block
Scott Ralston
Shawn Briscoe
Simone v Elk
?
Steve Johnson
Stephen Nolan
?
Tate
TJ
Tim Jeffries
?
Tom Williamson
Toshiaki ?
Tuna
Will Jones
Yoni Cohen
Zheng Bo
Zikho Pali
Logan

EFL

1 13pt Zagreb A
2 13 Belgrade B
3 12 Tokio B
4 12 Venezuela B
5 12 Venezuela A
6 Ghadja...
7 Indonesia B
8 Tenjin B?

ESL

1 16 IIUM B
2 15 Ljubiljana A
3 15 Stuttgart A
4 15 UCTI A
5 15 UTMara B
6 Leiden B
7 14 UNAC A
8 13 Lahore
9 14 Berlin B
10 14 Indonesia A (EFL)
11 14 IIUM C
12 14 Gutenberg A
13 14 Koc A
14 13 Berlin A
15 13 Ljubljana C
16 13 Haifa A

Open Break

1 24 Monash A
2 22 Sydney A
3 21 Cambridge A
4 21 Oxford C
5 21 TCD Hist B
6 20 Oxford A
7 20 Hart House A
8 20 Cambridge B
9 20 Durham A
10 20 Monash C
11 20 Oxford D
12 20 Sydney D
13 19 Sydney C
14 19 Monash B
15 19 NUS A
16 19 Alaska A
17 19 King's Inn A
18 19 ANU A
19 19 UCD Law A
20 19 Yale A
21 19 ANU B
22 19 Alaska B
23 18 Sydney B
24 18 LSE A
25 18 Oxford B
26 18 Melbourne A
27 18 UNSW A
28 18 Yale C
29 18 McGill A
30 18 Vermont B
31 18 Cambridge C
32 18 TCD Hist A

Masters

Ireland
USA
Scotland
England B

What a night.
Congratulations to all!

Party now ...

Happy New Year!

At 25 deg C and a light breeze, this is a more than happy start!

Greetings to the Homeland and all others!

Words from Round 9

"And then all sheep were dead."

WUDC 2011: Round 9

"THBT social movements should use the courts rather than the legislature to advance social change"

The Round had been delayed to 20:30 on account of earlier fun and considerations around dinner (the canteen staff's departure times, to be exact). Now that debaters have been fed, it's time to sort this out ...
We are in high spirits that there will be a New Year's party afterwards. It may even include a Break announcement.

Round 8 Delayed

Start of Round 8 has been postponed to 15:10 local time, on account of what the CA team called a "monumental cock-up".
Apparently, not everybody had been provided with lunch ... "not everybody" including all vegetarians.

WUDC 2011: Round 8

"THBT the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should pursue political union"

Finally. Will see what teams do with this ...
To be fair, though, the expectation management this morning regarding Round 8 was excellent.
Round 9 will be at 19:00 local.

Words from Round 7

"Don't go and get yourself an underwear bomber" ...

I'm pondering.

WUDC Results After Round 6

Damn internet connectivity; others were faster ... ;)

Specifically, Colm has posted a copy of the Tab after Round 6. Achte Minute have already done an analysis on what this means for VDCH Land (that is kind of Great Germany, but phrasing it as such might land me an equity complaint ;P).

For all else, you'll need to wait for the break announcement tonight (as well as the full tab), seeing as we've been instructed to "give no more oral today".

WUDC 2011: Round 7

"TH would require individuals to reveal their actual identity when communicating on the internet"

From now on, Rounds are closed adjudication. Nothing better to keep the tension up ...

WUDC 2011: 30 Dec

It's been a fun night once again, and it's high time for bed.

Indeed, promises to ensure relative sobriety of others (who still need to speak) have been made within the German delegation.

Speaking of sobriety, that was clearly out of order on account of judge status.

The Phillipino/Botswana Brand Night was clearly good to us: A gin&tonic, a cigar, and a BW cultural performance ... Jens referred to my state as "mellow". Let's see whether we can upgrade to "inebriated" tomorrow.

Key observations until then:

• There were no drinks from Manila - Dino de Leon tells me that we need to come get those ourselves at Manila Worlds next year ... this gets me thinking (about flights)
• I associate some products with very specific places in my mind. Heineken has so far had an association to a beachfront bar somewhere close to the Olympic harbor in Barcelona. It is now attached to the University of Botswana campus
• Conclusion after two nights of socials (beyond the ice breaker): Things over here always end up in song and dance

WUDC 2011: Round 6

"TH would deny teacher's unions the right to strike"

Before this, more beer in the sun. - Did I mention that I love Africa ...
Debaters had their traditional Debate Day 2 Crisis today (How are we doing?, How could the judges in the previous round be so ignorant?, What are perspectives?), but everone I talked to was doing impressively well ... so I suppose the bin must be filled by "the others", whoever they are.

After this is dinner and Manila/Bots Brand Night. I'm curious as to the specialties they'll be serving ... :)
Before, there will be a German Caucus meeting - jawohl!

Good News

The tournament is currently running ~30-45 mins behind schedule, which - given the rather liberal timing of 2 hrs per Round - is a pretty fantastic achievement by all involved.

Favorite Quotes of the Day:

"There will now be toilet paper in all restrooms."

"We are talking to the administrator about opening the pool. Any certified lifeguards, please come forward."

I need to go check whether Bastian Laubner and Marcus Ewald have already followed that call ...

WUDC 2011: Round 5

"TH would prioritize asylum seekers who have engaged in armed struggle against oppressive regimes"

Lunchtime was spent in pursuit of BW cash (me; successful). Jens knows more about the Equity Forum.

Thought of the Round

Only because you perform barefoot, this does not make you Shakira.

WUDC 2011: Round 4

"THBT independent central banks should set limits on government spending"

Last night was "Recreation/Talent Night". Never thought I'd get to see Jamaican song, Jewish rap, and Botswanan dance in one evening ... good fun!
(Free drinks were curiously absent, though.)

WUDC 2011: Round 3

"THBT governments should NOT provide benefits on the basis of marital status"

Time inbetween Rounds was spent with beer in the sun and on an (unsuccessful) search for a working ATM on campus.
Jens meanwhile hosted the EU Caucus in preparation of Council.

The Public Speaking session is postponed to 21:15 tonight.

Looking forward to food and drinks after this ...

WUDC 2011: Round 2

"THBT all countries should have the right to possess nuclear weapons"

Interesting ...

Getting to food was a challenge at lunch - note to self: Don't offer individual feedback immediately subsequent to Rounds ;)
Shout out to my judging partner Finn from MAD, who footed the bill for the ice cream, thanks to which I survived ...

Round 3 is currently forecast to be announced at 18:15 local time.

WUDC 2011: Round 1

"THBT national sporting teams should reflect the diversity of the national population"

There's been a bit of a delay this morning, largely on account of the fact that everone needed to check in and that the latest reg updates did not make it to the tab. VLookup, anyone?

Check-in of speakers and judges before Rounds happens by manual database entry - when you're checked in, the system tells you that it cannot find you ... this has been a bit confusing when people checked in their partners or delegations.

Apparently, ESL/EFL also need to re-register ...

Feels a little like at the BW border ;)

Let's go ...

WUDC 2011: 28 Dec Wrap-Up

It's shortly past midnight, and I'm back in my room ... that kind of puts the party to shame just a little bit ;) (Details below)

Today's Excitement:

• Things started with the Debater/Judges Briefing and Administrative Announcements ... a little late this morning. So did I.
  The briefings were good, highlighting a holistic approach to judging and the notion that there are always judgement calls without much "automaticity" ... something that needs to be said especially at Worlds.
• Lunch was had
• Pre-Council took ~3.5 instead of 1.5 hrs, but according to Jens they managed to address already many things which would otherwise have needed to be discussed on 01 Jan - this includes the Bid Presentations for WUDC 2013 from Zagreb and Berlin. I have taken sides - I suppose Jens, too, has a private opinion but refrains from voicing that on account of his EUDC Council Presidency. We shall therefore keep the discussion out of here from our end until the voting has been completed ...
• A first round of the Masters Competition was held on the motion, "THW buy local" - I'm not sure on participants, etc., but we'll update latest on the Final
• The Welcome Dinner was held at night, incl. a welcome by the BW Education Minister

Awesomeness:

• + The weather is still divine ... those who complain really need to get a grip
• + The helpers/runners/volunteers are still amazingly friendly
• + There is beer on sale at the cafeteria (Note to self: Remember to get local currency tomorrow)
• + Speaking of which, the food is pretty good and plentiful
• + Up until now I rarely ever imagined that one day I'd be standing in the bathroom of a BW student dorm, with the only challenge at hand being to fix my bow-tie to socially acceptable standards

Potential for Awesomeness:

• - Apparently there were some visa issues, incl. nights spent at the ZA/BW border crossing ... Manos and Tuna have more
• - I like the food - but sometimes getting access is a little tricky ... the crew needs to catch up on crowd management techniques
• - Speaking of food, while I'll leave the ranting about special dietary needs to this gentlemen ... Halal were practically made Vegetarian, which not all appreciate
• - There is a case for a Lean Operations project to be sold here ... or something like that. Examples: Way too many entertainment items before all food on the dinner (guys, seriously, between main and dessert is the time), a buffet dinner (crowd management ... see above), and a conversation that included the statements, "we have run out of wine", "we are not sure as to other drinks", and "there were two departments kind of clashing over drinks responsibility, each thinking the other would organize"
• - They need to open the swimming pool

While there is a certain degree of what hopefully is turning into a steep learning curve, I'm still on holiday. In Africa. With beer.

Other People's Thoughts:

• Steve had the best tweets today
• Colm has it all on where the streaming of some debates will be happening tomorrow, and what the CA Team announced as "official results" of the Adjudication Test (Jens and I both differed on some counts ... clearly not a simple call)

Bring it on, 29 Dec!

WUDC 2011: Opening Ceremony and Dinner Impending

There you go: As much as they were advertised, the free condoms from my dorm are already gone. Looking forward to the Social ...

Oh, the day. Not so much stress, really (though Jens might beg to differ on account of Pre-Council), just a lot of time spent in the sun, drinking beer, and a little time spent indoors listening to good briefings. More later, I need to put on a tux, after all ...

Vacation Time

This is my annual leave. I was really happy to get out of the office for a while.

From Mike's photo of WUDC reg it appears, though, that my employer is following me around ... ;)

A Message From My Cell Phone Provider

Sehr geehrter Herr Maedler,

leider bekommen wir keine detaillierten Informationen über Netzausbau bzw. Netzstörungen in Afrika.

Allerdings ist bekannt, daß Südafrika bezüglich Netzausbau führend auf diesem Kontinent ist. Alle anderen Länder verfügen nicht über einen vergleichbaren Ausbaustand. Dies gilt auch für Botswana,

mit freundlichen Grüßen,

In essence, this is T-Mobile telling me that they have no idea what's going on with their roaming partners (or lack thereof?) in Africa. Lovely.

Thanks, OrgComm, for thinking of SIM cards for the participants (the only challenge is that everyone receives a welcome bag ... persistence has shown to be key here)! Will now try to get this working for international communication and data ...

WUDC 2011: Welcome to Botswana

Cosmic Girl brought Jens and Isa. A considerably less exciting-sounding Frankfurt am Main brought me (but hey, it was an A380, and I was in the only row in the whole of Eco with the middle seat unoccupied ;)

What they had in common: Reasonably on-time, reasonably chaos-free delivery of debaters and judges from -8°C and 25cm of powder into +25°C and sunshine.

First observations from a drive from Jo'burg to Gaborone:

+ Africa seems a wonderful place

+ The people here are immensely friendly

+ 25°C, sun. Summer. Putting the winter coats into suitcases until Jan 15

+/- Anyone in for an adventure is advised to take a border-crossing from ZA into BW by road. The bureaucracy. The facilities. Oh, wait, maybe this whole EU citizenship thing makes for a somewhat spoiled existence ...

- It's either easy to get a little lost in Gaborone, or Google need to do better homework

First impressions from Botswana Worlds (can't compete with Tuna's comprehensive analysis, anyway, but still):

+ Large, sprawling, well-protected campus

+ Did I mention the weather?

+ The immense friendliness of all the tournament staff we've met so far (and yes, both Jens and I have managed to keep them well entertained my locking ourselves out of our rooms ... still don't really understand the "replace actual lock by tournament-provided Chinese padlock" logic)

+ There was beer. On arrival

- No towels ... seriously

- As much as I romanticize my student life, but shared bathrooms ;P

- Break day remains a mystery, at least according to official schedule. I'm pretty sure, though, it will happen

So will sleep for me now.

See you all tomorrow!

WUDC 2011: Keeping Tabs

That is probably already a bad pun.

In any case, here is a work-in-progress version of how we think Worlds can come to you:

Blogs

• We will dump all relevant and maybe-only-relevant-to-some thoughts and infos on Worlds here (the RSS feed, specifically, is here) in as timely a fashion as possible
• A beautified version of our reporting, as well as possibly of that of some others, will be available at Achte Minute
• There are obviously countless others having fun over here, first non-exhaustive listings of whom are here and here

Twitter

• I might tweet the occasional thought
• It would be a good idea for you to follow Achte Minute anyway
• There is again a fair chance that others might also have thoughts on this

Shameless Self-Adulation

We have been busy lately, especially with trying to find new cups to facilitate our drinking habits ...

It is, however, good to be back. Botswana Worlds, we are much looking forward!

ESL Semis

SF 1
Tel Aviv A
Haifa A
Ljubljana A
Groningen A

SF 2
Leiden A
Galatasaray C
Tel Aviv B
Leiden C

Motion and positions will be announced at around 4:20.

Open Break Semis

SF 1:
OG Oxford B
OO Tel Aviv A
CG UCD L&H A
CO Oxford A

SF 2:
OG Nottingham B
OO Oxford E
CG Cambridge B
CO Oxford C

on the motion:

This House believes that desecration of religious sites is a legitimate tactic of warfare.

QF ESL Motion

THW allow the Police to physically discipline children below the age of criminal responsibility.

QF Open break

I promise to update this information later; Open break QF were held before the QF ESL, on the motion (vaguely) that

THW allow political parties to designate certain pre-election claims as binding, and whose breach would prompt re-elections.

From what I've heard, none of the debates was great.

Main Break

1 Oxford A (20)
2 Oxford C (18)
3 Oxford E (17)
4 UCD L&H A (16)
5 Nottingham A (16)
6 Durham B (16)
7 Cambridge B (15)
8 Oxford B (15)
9 UCC Phil A (15)
10 Cambridge E (15)
11 Cambridge D (15)
12 Tel Aviv A (15)
13 UCD L&H B (15)
14 Nottingham B (15)
15 St. Andrews A (15)
16 UCD Law A (15)

Well done, Tel Aviv A!

ESL Break

1 Tel Aviv A
2 Leiden A
3 Tel Aviv B
4 Berlin A
5 Ljubljana B
6 Erasmus A
7 SSE Riga A
8 Haifa A
9 IDC Herzliya A
10 Galatasaray A
11 Leiden C
12 Groningen A
13 Bilkent A
14 Tilbury House Cologne B
15 Haifa C
16 Ljubljana A


Israel is back!

Judge break

The judging pool this year was incredibly deep.

The judges breaking are:

Adriaan Andringa
Alex Ward
Alex Worsnip
Anat Gelber
Andrew Fitch
Andrew Tuffin
Anne Valkering
Ashleigh Lamming
Assen Kochev
Bob Nimmo
Bryn Gough
Can Okar
Craig Doherty
Dani Quinn
Daniel Warents
Deidre Milner
Derek Lande
Ewan MacDonald
Fleur Praal
Fred Cowell
Gavin Illsley
Giles Robertson
Gregg O'Neill
Isabelle Loewe
James Dray
James Prior
Jens Fischer
Julia Lawlor
Kirsty Russell
Leela Koenig
Lewis Iwu
Mhairi Murdoch
Nick Long
Oisin Collins
Roger Cotes
Rosie Unwin
Ross McGuire
Sam Block
Sayeqa Islam
Seun Inaynuwira
Simone Van Elk
Spela Krancj
Tarit Mukherjee
Uve Poom
Victor Chernov
Will Jones
Willard Foxton
Yauheni Akulich

Break announcement to follow

The Irish are still singing, but other than that we are all getting ready for the break announcement - less tension than usual with only one closed round.

There has been a lot of discussion specifically about the last two motions (custody hearings and placebos), though, so we are interested in how teams fared.

Motion R7 EUDC 2009

This House would allow doctors to actively lie to their patients in order to create or augment a placebo effect.

Comments?

Sorry apology, but good news just before the last prelim

... I have managed to get access to the network at the Newcastle Union! It's just before round 7 now, so just a few quick updates:

The motions for the previous rounds were:

R4: THB the gay rights movement should oppose gay marriages.
R5: THB western liberal countries have a moral duty to spread democracy across the world using force where necessary.
R6: THB custody hearings should not take a child's biological parentage into account.

The top team right now is Oxford A (JLM and Sheng-Wu) on 17, because they lost to Oxford C (Neill and Max) in R6. One of the Cambridge teams is on 15, but even in the top room the fourth team might not yet be secure.

In fact, the whole competition seems to be incredibly tight, with after R5 ALL ROOMS BUT one still live.

The top ESL teams is probably SSE Riga A, on 11 after R5, and there are strong contestants from Israel (Yoni and Uri did well), Netherlands (Leiden A on 11 after R6, Leiden B on 9, Leiden C on 8) and Germany (Berlin A on 10).

A few other results as we are going into R7:

Galatasaray A 11
Koc A 10
Bilkent A 10
Haifa A 12
Tel Aviv A 11
Orient A 13
Tel Aviv B 13
Haifa B (?) 10

I'll keep on collecting...

Yourgermancorrespondent @ Newcastle Euros 2009 - the first day

The first day of Newcastle Euros has passed already, but the network coverage is a bit sketchy. This post is written from a mobile phone in the nice trent house bar...
I will update you later with more details, but essentially this has happened: newcastle euros is great, it has a very gritty, studenty feeling to it. Organisation is very friendly, but because of registration problems, the first round started with a significant delay. As a result, there will in total only be 7 and not 8 rounds, as it had been planned. As the result of an interesting procedure (more on this later), 6 rounds will be open adjudication.
The motions so far:
R1: thw allow the police to use entrapment.
R2: thw use the education system to instill moral norms in children beyond mere obedience to the law.
R3: thw grant citizenship to illegal immigrants who report on work-place exploitation.
There will be more stories and motion analysis later. But comments are as ever encouraged!

"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 ...

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!

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!

Thank you, Koc!

Back in Germany, and it has been raining for two days straight. That gives me a chance to reflect for a moment on Euros in Istanbul.

Having been part of the organisation staff for Berlin Euros, I find it hard to find an "objective" view. And despite of the bias, I truly believe that this was probably the best Euros ever.

Of course, the nature of the event was different from holding it in a big city - here, no transfers were required, everything was close by.

The org comm really lived up to their promises: The competition ran on schedule for most of the time. The food was good, especially for the dinners. The nightlife was very diverse, and speaking of culture: I imagine the trip to Istanbul was just great.

And lastly, also the weather played along: With temperatures around 30°C and a steady breeze, competition days were very bearable. Even more so, climatized rooms ensured that concentration could be upheld during the rounds.

As a summary: What a fantastic competition, and thank you to everyone who made this happen.

From this perspective: All the best to Tallinn Euros, we are looking forward to meeting under the northern summer!

PS: There is a little downside though, The mood was slightly gloomy amongst several prospective Euros hosts I talked to. One debater told me: "We would love to host Euros in 2009 or 2010, but we have no idea how we could possibly match this experience".