The Disraeli room at the Carlton club played host to a magnificent set of debates from Socratic members: covering questions on the Prime Minister and his resignation and a philosophical motion on whether ‘money makes one happy’.
We were delighted to have Geneviève Curtis with us as Judge for the debates and Adjudicator for certification. Geneviève specialises in speech writing/making and was a leading advisor to the then PM David Cameron and in the current cabinet Stephen Barclay. 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 that Boris Johnson should have resigned as PM’.
The debate was narrowly won by Team A; however, the voting moved from 75% in favour in the first round to 50%-50% at the second telling. Plenty of active listening and rhetorical questions produced a compelling session.
‘This House thinks that money makes one happy’.
Here team B, narrowly grasped victory 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.
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.
We much look forward to our upcoming competition at Gray’s Inn where members will again have the opportunity to test their debating skills and progress to the next level of certification.
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