Sadly Team Wales' winning streak came to an end this morning in a close debate against Canada. Although we were disappointed, they are the reigning world champions and we did manage to take a judge, so we were pleased with that.
After a lot of confusion this afternoon, in the midst of which the original motion was released early to two teams who (through no fault of their own) began preparing before the other teams, the reserve motion was deployed to avoid unfairly giving some teams an advantage. After an interesting debate against Barbados, a new team, we got back on track by winning unanimously, putting us on 5 wins and 16 judges at the end of the third day. Currently, Paul has calculated that this puts us in 6th position on the overall tab*, but tomorrow has some dangerous clashes between top teams that could completely alter this before the break tomorrow night. Paul has put together a comprehensive tab of the standings after round 6, which can be found at: http://paullau.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/results-wsdc-2011-round-5-6/
Also, the break tomorrow night is going to be streamed live online at: http://www.dundeechannel.com/wsdc.html
so you can take part in the tension yourself!
In summary, the results of the rounds 5 and 6 are as follows:
Round 5 - THW legalise the sale of human organs (pre-prepared)
Wales 1 - 2 Canada
Round 6 - THW stop sending humans into space (impromptu)
Barbados 0 - 3 Wales
*The tab is the table of results in a debating competition.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Team Wales features in the Scotsman!
Saturday's edition of the Scotsman, the Scottish national newspaper, reported on the debate between Scotland and Wales, as well as providing coverage of the tournament overall. The complete article can be found at: http://www.scotsman.com/features/The-world-view-A-closer.6821786.jp?articlepage=2
The following extract was taken from this article.
And no - we haven't stopped winding Paul up about his jacket yet!
The following extract was taken from this article.
Across town at St Paul’s Academy, there is a home nations clash, as Team Scotland takes on Team Wales in the first unprepared motion. At 12:50pm each team opened an envelope and learned that the topic of debate was: “This House Believes In The Free Distribution Of Music On The Internet.” An hour later, in a small classroom, Charlie Holmes, resplendent in a kilt, begins the debate for Scotland with a rousing speech lambasting the current copyright laws as “draconian” and “outdated” and articulating the current belief in contemporary society that the downloading of music is no longer a crime – certainly not one deserving a £200,000 fine for the illegal downloading of a 99p single – oh, and as musicians draw their experience and ideas from society, society shouldn’t have to pay.
They have now built the court on which Wales will play. What is interesting is that it appears easier to win with an opposing argument than a proposing one. Alfie Hinchliffe, of Team Scotland, explains afterwards: “It’s easier to be destructive than constructive.”
Paul Lau – a recent signing for Team Wales after his move from Hong Kong – likes to look his best when tearing apart an argument. As he reaches the podium, he makes a point of putting on his suit jacket with a stylish flourish, rather like Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett in The West Wing, the complete box set of which you well imagine young Mr Lau owning. Wales go on to win the debate.
And no - we haven't stopped winding Paul up about his jacket yet!
Saturday, 20 August 2011
A day off in Edinburgh
We've had a lovely and very welcome day off today, as nearly all the participants headed off to Edinburgh for a day out organised by the staff and pupils at George Heriot's school, who had put a huge amount of work into the day for which we are extremely grateful.
Team Wales was escorted by two pupils at the school, Max and Iona,who began by taking us to Edinburgh Dungeon. We went round the dungeons with the teams from Canada and Chile, and had a fun if terrifying time, as we explored punishment in Scotland in the medieval times and the story of Sawney Bean, a Scottish cannibal. There was also a section on the harvesting and sale of organs by gravediggers, and we'll have to see whether or not this comes up in the debate tomorrow!
After a veggie haggis and cheese toastie, we headed off to see the National Museum, the high street which was packed with street performers taking part in the Fringe Festival, the Meadow, and finally finished back at George Heriot's school.
It's back to debating tomorrow though, as we take on last year's world champions, Canada, in the morning, and Barbados, a new team, in the afternoon. Bring it on!
Team Wales was escorted by two pupils at the school, Max and Iona,who began by taking us to Edinburgh Dungeon. We went round the dungeons with the teams from Canada and Chile, and had a fun if terrifying time, as we explored punishment in Scotland in the medieval times and the story of Sawney Bean, a Scottish cannibal. There was also a section on the harvesting and sale of organs by gravediggers, and we'll have to see whether or not this comes up in the debate tomorrow!
After a veggie haggis and cheese toastie, we headed off to see the National Museum, the high street which was packed with street performers taking part in the Fringe Festival, the Meadow, and finally finished back at George Heriot's school.
It's back to debating tomorrow though, as we take on last year's world champions, Canada, in the morning, and Barbados, a new team, in the afternoon. Bring it on!
Friday, 19 August 2011
Two more rounds, two more wins!
It's been another great day for Team Wales, as we managed to unanimously win both of our debates today, making us one of only three teams who have won all four debates and twelve judges, the other two being South Korea and New Zealand. Both the Philippines and Argentina put up strong fights and the morning debate especially was good, with the judges feeling that the afternoon's impromptu was a little flat, but we're trying to put that behind us and focus on taking on Canada in two days time (as tomorrow we have a day off to go and visit Edinburgh). Just a quick note - Jonathan, our coach, is also posting his perspective on the day's debates on the Team Wales at WSDC facebook page, for anyone who is interested.
This evening was really good fun - many of the teams went to watch a light debate in British Parliamentary format between some of the judges and coaches, several of whom are high-profile university speakers. The motion was THBT Scotland should become an independent nation, and the tone of the debate was set by the first proposition speaker who announced that Scotland should become independent and as part of that have a single nuclear weapon, and illustrated his case with numerous jokes that had the audience in stitches. Wales was referred to as part of an argument by the second opposition speaker when he was describing the UK as a family - Ireland was the elder brother who drinks a lot and always wants more money, and Wales was the faithful family pet. I'll leave you to ponder this one!
So, in summary, the results of the rounds 3 and 4 are as follows:
Round 3 - THBT universal primary education is a misallocation of resources for the developing world (pre-prepared)
Philippines 0 - 3 Wales
Round 4 - THW make voting in national elections mandatory (impromptu)
Wales 3 - 0 Argentina
We've all discovered how desperate the sleep situation is getting, as we went to set our alarm clocks last night and felt a surge of excitement at the thought that we only needed to wake up at 6:15, and would therefore have a lie-in! So after a couple of rounds of Irish snap, we're planning to turn in, because there's no preparation to do for tomorrow as we're off to Edinburgh!
This evening was really good fun - many of the teams went to watch a light debate in British Parliamentary format between some of the judges and coaches, several of whom are high-profile university speakers. The motion was THBT Scotland should become an independent nation, and the tone of the debate was set by the first proposition speaker who announced that Scotland should become independent and as part of that have a single nuclear weapon, and illustrated his case with numerous jokes that had the audience in stitches. Wales was referred to as part of an argument by the second opposition speaker when he was describing the UK as a family - Ireland was the elder brother who drinks a lot and always wants more money, and Wales was the faithful family pet. I'll leave you to ponder this one!
So, in summary, the results of the rounds 3 and 4 are as follows:
Round 3 - THBT universal primary education is a misallocation of resources for the developing world (pre-prepared)
Philippines 0 - 3 Wales
Round 4 - THW make voting in national elections mandatory (impromptu)
Wales 3 - 0 Argentina
We've all discovered how desperate the sleep situation is getting, as we went to set our alarm clocks last night and felt a surge of excitement at the thought that we only needed to wake up at 6:15, and would therefore have a lie-in! So after a couple of rounds of Irish snap, we're planning to turn in, because there's no preparation to do for tomorrow as we're off to Edinburgh!
Thursday, 18 August 2011
And the first day of debating is over...
Well, this has been the most stressful day of my life thus far. With impending results for myself and Sarah, we were both up at the crack of dawn trying to log onto UCAS, only to be told that we'd have to wait until eight o'clock. By which time, of course, we had to be at breakfast preparing to leave for the school hosting our first two rounds. So it was only approximately 30 minutes before the first debate that we actually found out our results, and it was with relief that we found we had both got the grades for our first choice universities.
The results of the first two rounds are as follows:
Round 1 - THW offer dictators immunity in return for leaving power (pre-prepared)
Wales 3 - 0 Germany
Round 2 - THW allow the free distribution of music over the internet (impromptu)
Scotland 0 - 3 Wales
Both debates were good and the results must have been extremely close. All in all, it's been a great start to what promises to be an exciting tournament!
The results of the first two rounds are as follows:
Round 1 - THW offer dictators immunity in return for leaving power (pre-prepared)
Wales 3 - 0 Germany
Round 2 - THW allow the free distribution of music over the internet (impromptu)
Scotland 0 - 3 Wales
Both debates were good and the results must have been extremely close. All in all, it's been a great start to what promises to be an exciting tournament!
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
The Tournament has begun!
This is going to be a fairly short post as it is past midnight and I still have case notes to copy out neatly for tomorrow - it's nice to have these things done in plenty of time!
Today was our first full day in Dundee - we took advantage of the tours of the city arranged by the Organising Committee, and went on a bus tour with teams from Mexico, Australia, Peru and Barbados. The castle at Broughty Ferry, on the edge of Dundee, was our first stop, followed by a stop at the Botanic Gardens of Dundee. We then went to Dundee Law, a now-extinct volcano, and took a lot of photos of the panoramic view from the top, and finally finished at a wildlife park. At the park, we had lunch and were then presented with some information on the park and an activity booklet, which brought out the inner children in us as we figured our exactly how to get the tortoise through the maze and got rather excited over the cut-out monkey mask in the middle.
In the afternoon, we headed back to base and did a friendly impromptu debate against Team Singapore, the motion being TH supports the granting of enhanced powers to the police in the fight against crime. After feedback, we had just enough time to pull on a dress and some heels before making our way to the opening ceremony. Both Sarah and I had underestimated how much further the distance between our accommodation and the location of the opening ceremony would seem in heels, and after a few metres decided to walk the rest of the way barefoot...
The opening ceremony was exceptional as is always the case at WSDC, with several speakers, musical items and a display of highland dance. Unfortunately, at this point my camera battery, exhausted from its hard work in the morning, decided to go on strike, so I have no photos from the ceremony.
So now the tournament has officially begun! The nerves are kicking in for tomorrow, but I'm confident that whatever the results we'll have another amazing day! As long as we can find a shop that sells energy drinks and/or coffee to deal with the lack of sleep... on that note, goodnight!
Today was our first full day in Dundee - we took advantage of the tours of the city arranged by the Organising Committee, and went on a bus tour with teams from Mexico, Australia, Peru and Barbados. The castle at Broughty Ferry, on the edge of Dundee, was our first stop, followed by a stop at the Botanic Gardens of Dundee. We then went to Dundee Law, a now-extinct volcano, and took a lot of photos of the panoramic view from the top, and finally finished at a wildlife park. At the park, we had lunch and were then presented with some information on the park and an activity booklet, which brought out the inner children in us as we figured our exactly how to get the tortoise through the maze and got rather excited over the cut-out monkey mask in the middle.
In the afternoon, we headed back to base and did a friendly impromptu debate against Team Singapore, the motion being TH supports the granting of enhanced powers to the police in the fight against crime. After feedback, we had just enough time to pull on a dress and some heels before making our way to the opening ceremony. Both Sarah and I had underestimated how much further the distance between our accommodation and the location of the opening ceremony would seem in heels, and after a few metres decided to walk the rest of the way barefoot...
The opening ceremony was exceptional as is always the case at WSDC, with several speakers, musical items and a display of highland dance. Unfortunately, at this point my camera battery, exhausted from its hard work in the morning, decided to go on strike, so I have no photos from the ceremony.
So now the tournament has officially begun! The nerves are kicking in for tomorrow, but I'm confident that whatever the results we'll have another amazing day! As long as we can find a shop that sells energy drinks and/or coffee to deal with the lack of sleep... on that note, goodnight!
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Arrived in Dundee (just)...
After nearly 8 hours of travelling, Team Wales finally arrived in Dundee, and after speaking to the Argentinian team, who had to fly for 13 hours, wait for 3 hours in London, then catch another plane to Glasgow before taking a bus to Dundee, we counted our lucky stars that it had only been 8 hours on 3 different trains.
All in all, the journey went smoothly - an extremely competitive round of Bananagrams (a highly addictive word game) we came close to missing our stop, and had to move pretty fast to avoid getting stuck on the train to Manchester. Amazingly, we had a similarly close call when getting off our second train and David realised that he'd left a book in another carriage. Luckily, however, we all made it to Dundee!
It's been a lovely evening - we've met teams from Kuwait, India, Argentina, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as being reunited with Team England, and David and Sarah took to the dance mats against the girls from Kuwait. But we're all tired now, so after a final bit of case preparation we're heading off to bed. Goodnight!
All in all, the journey went smoothly - an extremely competitive round of Bananagrams (a highly addictive word game) we came close to missing our stop, and had to move pretty fast to avoid getting stuck on the train to Manchester. Amazingly, we had a similarly close call when getting off our second train and David realised that he'd left a book in another carriage. Luckily, however, we all made it to Dundee!
It's been a lovely evening - we've met teams from Kuwait, India, Argentina, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as being reunited with Team England, and David and Sarah took to the dance mats against the girls from Kuwait. But we're all tired now, so after a final bit of case preparation we're heading off to bed. Goodnight!
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