UCC win Berlin IV

Bit behind posting this but UCC Law (Becky West and Gearoid Wrixon) have won the Berlin IV.

In the final they defeated University of London Union (ULU) A (Samantha Neville and David Jones), Utrecht Debating Society (UDS) A (Lucien de Bruin and Tomas Beerthuis, Leiden Debating Union (Rogier Baart and Suus Kingma)

Motions:
THW financially incentivise parents to have two or more children.
THBT any language which needs protection is not worth protection.
THW make all prison sentences indefinite until the prisoner is deemed rehabilitated.
THW privatise water.
For peacekeeping missions in Africa, THW only use African troops.
THW only hold team sports competitions with mixed-sex teams.

For more information:
Tab: http://goo.gl/9eQKx
Photos: http://goo.gl/KWKYR
Article (in German): http://goo.gl/5IWSt
Main site: http://abearstongue.blogspot.com

German Debating Championship Results

On the pentecostal weekend, the DebatingClub Heidelberg of the time-honoured University of Heidelberg hosted the German Language Debating Championship. The format of this year's Championship was Offene Parlamentarische Debatte (OPD), or open parliamentary debate.

Winners: Debattiergesellschaft Jena (Severin Weingarten, Moritz Niehaus, Clemens Lechner)
Best Speaker by points: Severin Weingarten
Best Speaker elected by the honourary adjudication panel: Free Speaker Lukas Haffert (St. Gallen)
Finalists: Streitkultur Tübingen (Pauline Leopold, Steffen Jenner, Dominic Hildebrand)
Free Speakers (a characteristic speaker position in the format of OPD): Tom-Michael Hesse (Leipzig), Nicolas Eberle (Mainz), Lukas Haffert (St. Gallen)

This tournament's CAs were Gudrun Lux, Jan Lüken, Marcus Ewald and Tim Richter.

The motions: (Translated from German)
Round 1: Should we prohibit begging?
Round 2: Do we need a mandatory reference of real names on the internet?
Round 3: Do we need state-run control of the mineral oil markets?
Round 4: Should Antigone bury Polyneices?
Round 5: Should Belgium be split up?
Round 6: Should we abandon the international war on drugs?
Octos: Does the European Central Bank need a veto on the government budget of Euro countries?
Quarters: Should Wikiepedia become UNESCO World Heritage?
Semis: Do we need a European Marshall Plan for North Africa?
Final: Should laws generally be determinable?

--
Anja Pfeffermann
on behalf of the Achte Minute editorial team

Cambridge win Tilbury house 2008

The Cambridge team of Giles Robertson and Mischa Balen won the 2008 Tilbury house IV.

Mischa Balen was the best speaker in the final. Sharon Kroes was the "most entertaining" in the final. Shane Murray topped the speaker tab.

For more details please see their e-mail or website

On a side issue I see on their website that having made it to but lost the ESL finals at the last Europeans and Worlds they have declared themselves World & European Debating Vice-Champions (ESL). What the hell are "vice champions"? Someone in Tilbury has a promising career in PR or political spin doctoring ahead of them. We didn't lose. We are vice champions.... ;-)

Tilbury House IV

Dear All,

Tilbury House is proud to present Germany's premium IV:
Registration for Tilbury House IV 2008 in Cologne, Germany, March 14th-15th, is NOW OPEN.

Get ready for a weekend packed with excellent closed motions, high class adjudicators, fun, food and free drinks! Registration fee is only €40 for debaters and €20 for judges! Debaters and judges who broke in any World or European Debating Championships register for free!! What awaits you over the weekend at Tilbury House IV:

CA: Derek Lande (CA: WUDC Cork, 2009; DCA WUDC Vancouver, 2007; DCA EUDC Berlin 2006)!DCAs: Andrew Fitch (DCA EUDC Koc 2007) & Andrew Marshall (President of the Australian Debating Federation 1999-2003)!Four rounds of 7 min speeches leading to the Semi-Finals and Grand Final!Grand Final in the impressive parliament-hall of the Cologne city council!All costs covered: 2 nights of accommodation, food, drinks (lots of), city tour!Great Socials including the famous black-tie Champions’ Dinner! Hotel-like hostel!Return flights to Cologne (CGN) for £50 and less from many locations! Find detailed travel information at http://www.tilburyhouse.de/Fun Fun Fun: Check out last years' feedback and gallery on our website!Find out more: www.tilburyhouse.de/iv

With a team cap of 40 teams, you definitely want to hurry up! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to seeing you in Cologne,
Yana Zhakhouskaya

Tilbury House IV 2008
Convenor
Mobile: +49 172 274 2959
convenor@tilburyhouse.de
http://www.tilburyhouse.de/

IUB Open 2007 Results

The IUB Open 2007 took place in Bremen, Germany on February 2-4. The finals' motion was "THW put children of long-term unemployed parents up for adoption." These are the results:

Winning Team: London/Leeds (Keir Howie & Zayab Al Nasser)

Best Speaker of the Tab: Daniel Grotzky, DCM Blue

Best Speaker of the Final: Aurora Simionescu, DCM Blue

Updated 9 Feb: The team tab and speaker tab can be found here (PDF). For more information check the official website.

Tilbury House Intervarsity 2007

Dear debating friends,

Ready for Germany's premium IV?

Then get ready for a weekend packed with excellent closed motions, high class adjudicators, fun, food and free drinks:
Registration for the English language Tilbury House IV 2007 in Cologne, Germany, March 16th-17th, is NOW OPEN.

Debaters pay only €30 per person and judges only €10! Debaters and judges who broke in any Worlds or European Debating Championships register for free!!

Here the standards you know Tilbury House for:
CA: Ciarán Lawlor (Convenor of UCD Worlds 2006, DCA Thailand Worlds 2008)!

DCAs: Isabelle Löwe (European Champion /ESL 2006) & Fabian Dittrich (Convenor of the IVs 2005 and 2006)!
The further judging pool includes the winners of the Oxford IV (ESL) 2006!

Final in the impressive parliament-hall of the Cologne city council!

All costs covered: accommodation, food, drinks, city tour!
Great Socials including the famous Champions’ Dinner!
Hotel-like hostel!
Return flights to Cologne (CGN) for £50 and less from many locations!Find detailed travel information at www.tilburyhouse.de/ivtravel
Fun Fun Fun:Check out last year’s feedback and gallery on our website!

Find out more: www.tilburyhouse.de/iv

With a team cap of 32 teams, you definitely want to hurry up!If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to seeing you in Cologne,

Felix Lamouroux
Tilbury House IV 2007Registration & Tabbing
http://www.tilburyhouse.de/iv

Tilbury House Intervarsity 2007

Dear debating friends,

Ready for Germany's premium IV?

Then get ready for a weekend packed with excellent closed motions, high class adjudicators, fun, food and free drinks:

Registration for the English language Tilbury House IV 2007 in Cologne, Germany, March 16th-17th, is NOW OPEN.

Debaters pay only €30 per person and judges only €10! Debaters and judges who broke in any Worlds or European Debating Championships register for free!!

Here the standards you know Tilbury House for:
* CA: Ciarán Lawlor (Convenor of UCD Worlds 2006, DCA Thailand Worlds 2008)!
* DCAs: Isabelle Löwe (European Champion /ESL 2006) & Fabian Dittrich (Convenor of the IVs 2005 and 2006)! The further judging pool includes the winners of the Oxford IV (ESL) 2006!
* Final in the impressive parliament-hall of the Cologne city council!
* All costs covered: accommodation, food, drinks, city tour!
* Great Socials including the famous Champions Dinner!
* Hotel-like hostel!
* Return flights to Cologne (CGN) for £50 and less from many locations! Find detailed travel information at www.tilburyhouse.de/ivtravel
* Fun Fun Fun:
Check out last year's feedback and gallery on our website!

Find out more: www.tilburyhouse.de/iv <http://www.tilburyhouse.de/iv>

With a team cap of 32 teams, you definitely want to hurry up!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to seeing you in Cologne,
Felix Lamouroux
Tilbury House IV 2007
Registration & Tabbing
http://www.tilburyhouse.de/iv

Registration for IUB 2007

Registration for the Open debate at the International University of Bremen (Germany) is now open.

More details can be found at http://www.iub-open.org/

German language Debate

Dear Debaters!

Streitkultur e.V. is organising an international tournament for university students in Tübingen in May 2007. The event will consist of a mixture of debating, short lectures by university experts abouts topics related to the European Union and international politics and a number of social events and excursions. We want to add to the plurality of international debating and offer the oportunity to come together in a language other than english - or in other words: The tournament will be held in german language and we warmly invite students from all over the world who want to exercise or improve their german skills. You have to be neither an expert in debating nor in german to join us! The applied parliamentary debate style (OPD) will be introduced in a short workshop before the tournament and we will have a seperate final for students with german as a foreign language.

Please find all the details about the event in a pdf-document behind this link:
http://www.streitkultur.net/ISS/Einladung.pdf
Some aspects in brief:

- Tournaments / lectures / socials / excursions from May 24. - 28. 2007 with optional excursions 29. and 30.
- The registration FEE is ZERO for the first team of each country!
- Registration for international participants is OPEN from NOW on www.streitkultur.org !
- We expect to welcome between 100 and 150 international and german students
- There will be lots of socials, FREE DRINKS, events etc. apart from a FULL TOURNAMENT

Are you a uni-students, know some conversational german and feel like meeting lots of interesting people in one of the most beautiful german cities? Then join us for the INTERNATIONALES STREITKULTUR SYMPOSIUM 2007!

Please feel free to pass this mail around to people who you think might be interested in the event or other mailing lists!

Looking forward to seeing you in Tübingen

Michael


Michael Hoppmann
CA ISS 2007.

IUB Open

e-mail from IUB

Dear Colleagues,

The International University Bremen Debating Society is proud to announce that it will host its third international Open early next year. The IUB Open 2007 is scheduled to take place February 02-04, 2007, in Bremen, Germany.

Detailed information will follow soon when the tournament website is up and running.
Until then, please find the core details of the tournament below:

Date: February 02-04, 2007
Format: British Parliamentary Style
Language: English
Speaking Time: 7 minutes
CA Panel: Derek Lande (confirmed), Isabelle Loewe (confirmed), Gavin Illsley (requested)
Fees: Debaters - EUR 35 p.p., Adjudicators – EUR 30 p.p.; incl. all meals and accommodation

Registration is scheduled to commence early September.
Book your travel arrangements early – easyJet flights from London-Luton straight into Bremen are currently available from GBP 49.00 return (all taxes and charges included). Cheap flights, e.g. on Ryanair, are also available into nearby Hamburg and Luebeck.

Kind regards,

Henrik Maedler
Convenor IUB Open 2007
- On behalf of the organizing team –

German Debating Championships 2006

Come and meet Germany's best speakers at the German DebatingChampionships 2006 in Münster from June 15-18.
Being the climax of thedebating season, this event completes the "Zeitdebatten", a serieswith popular tournaments in all regions of Germany.

Visit their website at:
http://www.ddm06.de

Tilbury House IV

Tilbury House IV, March 3-5, Cologne/Koln, Germany

Can Okar is the CA.

Teams from England, Russia, Turkey, Rumania, Poland, France, Italy and Germany are already registered.

They have 10 team places left.

On February 1st they will lift the team cap, if spots should be remaining.

Registration fee of €30/€10 (Debater/Judge)
5 meals, including a first class Champions Dinner
2 parties with free drinks
all travel within Cologne from Fri.-Sun.
hotel-like hostel for 2 nights (e.g., shower on your room)
City Tour

Detailed information at www.tilburyhouse.de.

Tilbury House Intervarsity

Tilbury House Intervarsity, Cologne, March 3-5 2006

Registration will start in November.

English language debating tournament.
CA: Jan Rosing (European Champion 2004, CA Istanbul 2005) - DCAs: Paul Novelle, Andrew Perfect - All costs covered: accommodation, food, alcohol, transportation, citytour - Two great parties - Hotel-like hostel - Return flights from the UK for £50 and less - Perfect EUDC preparation (March 23-26)

Report on Debating in Germany to 2002 Worlds Council

At the 2002 Worlds Council countries were invited to submit a report to the council to let other nations know about debating in their country.  It was not compulsory but a number of nations gave reports.

Report on Debating in Germany to 2002 Worlds Council

By Jan Hessbruegge
(German Representative on Worlds and European Debating Council)

Germany is still part of the „third world of debating“. However in our case the term „developing world“ would not only be more politically correct, but also indeed more appropriate. Debating in Germany is currently developing at a fast pace.

I. University Debating in Germany
At the present point in time there about 15 different debating societies at various institutions of tertiary education. This number constantly grows though. The first club (Tuebingen) was founded in 1991. Most clubs have evolved independently from each other, some being inspired by debating clubs at English-speaking institutions, others not. Generally speaking clubs debate in German, although there are exceptions (e.g. Cologne). Due to their independent formation, there is no common format used. Some clubs use British Parliamentary Style (i.e. „Worlds Style“) or something fairly similar, others debate in totally different formats.

Not least to these differing styles, there has not been a Common German Championships so far. However, this year tournaments both in German and in English are to be held, which in all likelihood will use Worlds Style as a basis.

Germany has started to compete at international competitions in recent years. Teams from Muenster competed at Worlds 2001 and Europeans 2000. At Europeans 2001 six teams from three different debating clubs took part, with a Muenster team reaching the ESL finals. Future years will see a far greater involvement of German teams as the clubs (and their potential sponsors) are being informed about the international dimension of debating.

There exists a common web-site of German debating clubs: www.debattierclubs.de/unis

II. Highschool Debating in Germany
There are very few debating clubs in German schools, though some have been newly founded in recent years. A listing of the ones existing can be found at www.debattierclubs.de/schulen.

III. Institutions of tertiary education
Germany has a state system of tertiary education.

Hochschulen, Fachhochschulen and Universitaeten can be considered to be genuine universities. At a university level there exists no real differentiation between an undergraduate and a graduate level. After graduation students can choose to pursue a Dissertation (PhD) though. In this phase they are still immatriculated as students but do generally not have lectures.

Some university careers e.g. in law or education have a two-stage education. Following university graduation students get a practical education (so called Referandarzeit) of 1-2 years. During this time they continue to have some lectures and tutorials while working. Their degree is only thought to be achieved upon completion of this second stage. The case of these Referandare is therefore somewhat comparable to the case of the British Inns (...[disclaimer] taking in full account the complexity of the issue of the Inns and not wishing to assert any point of view in this matter)

There are also Berufsschulen (professional schools), that supplement a practical apprenticeship in various trades crafts, trades and professions. These schools cannot be considered to be universities.

In addition to all these state instituions there various private institutions. Some, namely Universitaet Witten-Herdecke, European School of Business, and Hamburg Law School, can be considered to be universities. The status of others would have to be determined on a case by case basis.

IV. Language
Germany is clearly an ESL-country. At home as well as in schools and universities German is lingua franca. Students start to learn English as their first foreign language at the age of ten years.