
The Bingham room at The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn (Inn of Court) played host to a magnificent set of debates from Socratic members: covering questions on whether (following the resignation of Liz Truss) the UK should have a General Election and a philosophical motion on whether ‘technology is a force for good in society?’
We were delighted to have Yiannis Vassilakis with us as Judge for the debates and Adjudicator for certification. Yiannis has worked at the BBC and Sky and specialises in script writing, acting and creating and fronting advertisements. His expertise in the work of the stage brought out additional requirements in this competition, for our members to focus on posture, annunciation and projecting their voices. Our members performed exceedingly well and a very high percentage achieved Merit or Distinction in their respective grades. Well done all!
The Motions:
‘This House thinks it is time for the UK to have a General Election’.
The Proposition narrowly retained a voting advantage with 60% in favour. Plenty of active listening and rhetorical questions produced a compelling session, with a number of members switching their votes, having heard a new or especially convincing point.
‘This House thinks that technology is a force for good in society’.
Here the opposition snatched victory in the closing stages of the debate with a strong set of points made more impressive by the grasp of detail and evidence used to support their arguments. Both teams were presented with key facts and had to establish an order of precedence. All speakers had to mould their own points from the information provided.
Overall, it was a closely fought contest and the quality of communication skills and the argumentation shown impressed the judge to a very high level. Looking down around us we had pictures of eminent members of the Judiciary and many wonderful advocates, and it was a tribute to the room, to see such a superb set of speeches and contributions from the Socratic club.
We will be in touch with more details on our forthcoming competitions where members will again have the opportunity to test their debating skills and progress to the next level of certification.
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