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!