Debating News & Results

The Cambridge Union continues to be one of the most successful debating societies in the world, regularly winning major competitions in Britain & Ireland.

UCL IV 2011

Kurien Parel and Zulfiqar Ali reached the semi-finals of the UCL IV 2011

Worlds 2011

Congratulations to our teams and judges who took part at the World Universities Debating Championship 2011. Congratulations go to Doog Cochran & Maria English for reaching the Semi-Finals, Jack Watson & Harish Natarajan who reached the Quarter-Finals, and JNathalie Smith & Maria Murdoch who reached the Octo-Finals.

We regularly send Union debaters to international competitions and tours. In the last year, this has included Botswana, Malaysia, Rome, Amsterdam, Boston and Istanbul.

SOAS IV 2009

Congratulations to Doug Cochran and Sean Koh who won the SOAS IV 2009, a competition with 99 teams from across Europe.

In addition, Mhairi Murdoch & Jack Watson and Aliyah Akram & Mary Nugent made the semi-finals and Mhairi was the best speaker on tab.

2010-2011 Debating Year

European Universities Debating Championship 2009: Newcastle, UK Congratulations to the whole squad at Euros 201-. The following teams made the outrounds of the competition:

Harish Natarajan and Jack Watson: European Finalists Nathalie Smith and Charlotte Thomas: European Quarter-Finalists

Below is a list of our successes on the IONA debating circuit this year:

Winners

  • SOAS IV 2010 (Harish Natarajan and Matty Wnek)
  • ESU Mace 2010 (Maria English and Doog Cochran)
  • Bristol IV 2010 (James Hardy and Doog Cochran)
  • TCD IV 2011 (Rebecca Meredith and Jack Watson)
  • Cambridge Women's Open 2011 (Maria English and Matty Wnek)
  • Warwick IV 2011 (Jack Gamble and Tom Powell)

Finalists

  • SOAS IV 2010 (Jack Watson and Maria English)
  • Durham IV 2010 (Jack Watson and Anna Stansbury)
  • ESU Mace 2010 (Harish Natarajan and Jack Watson)
  • Cork IV 2010 (Maria English and Doog Cochran)
  • Cork Invitational 2010 (Maria English and Aliyah Akram)
  • Birmingham IV 2010 (Stuart Cribb and Ashliegh Lamming)
  • KCL IV 2010 (Nathalie Smith and Mhraia Murdoch, Harish Natarajan and Jack Watson)
  • WUPID 2010 (Harish Natarajan and Doog Cochran)
  • UCL IV 2011 (Matt Hazell and Ally Mandra)

Semi-Finalists

  • SOAS IV 2009 (Mhairi Murdoch and Jack Watson, Aliyah Akram and Mary Nugent)
  • Oxford IV 2009 (Richard Lau and Harish Natarajan, Jo Box and Charlotte Thomas)
  • Cork IV 2009 (Doug Cochran and Ashleigh Lamming, Jack Gamble and Jack Watson)
  • ESU Mace 2009 (Harish Natarajan and Mary Nugent, Jack Gamble and Jack Watson)
  • Birmingham IV 2009 (Richard Lau and Harish Natarajan)
  • TCD IV 2010 (Netan Dogra and Harish Natarajan)
  • Warwick IV (Ashleigh Lamming and Ee Kuan Tan)
  • UCL Open (Stuart Cribb and Richard Coates)

Quarter-Finalists

  • Oxford IV 2009 (Will Davis and Mary Nugent)

Best Speakers

  • President's Cup 2009 (Jack Gamble)
  • SOAS IV 2009 (Mhairi Murdoch)
  • Durham IV Novice 2009 (Richard Coates)
  • ESU Mace 2009 (Doug Cochran)
  • Birmingham IV 2009 (Richard Lau)
  • London IV 2010 (Jo Box)
  • York IV 2010 (Jack Watson)
  • Warwick IV 2010 (Jack Watson)
  • Manchester IV 2010 (Jack Watson)

2008-2009 Debating Year

Here are some of our successes from the 2008-2009 debating year:

World Universities Debating Championship 2009: Cork, Ireland

Congratulations to our teams and judges who took part in a competition with 316 teams.

Many congratulations go to Richard Lau and Harish Natarajan who were World Octo-Finalists. Harish and Richard were also the third best team on tab and tenth and twelfth best speaker respectively out of 632 speakers.

Many congratulations also go to Sam Block who judged the grand final, Doug Cochran who judged the EFL final, David Middlemiss who judged an octo-final.

European Universities Debating Championship 2008: Tallinn, Estonia

Congratulations to the whole squad at Euros 2008.

Many congratulations go to Netan Dogra and Charlotte Thomas who were European Quarter-Finalists.

Many congratulations also go to Bob Nimmo who judged the grand final, Sam Block who judged the ESL final, Daniel Warents who judged a semi-final, David Middlemiss and Olga Polunina who judged a quarter-final and Ashleigh Lamming and Giles Robertson who judged an ESL quarter-final.

Winners

Bristol IV 2008 (Jo Box and Giles Robertson) Imperial IV 2008 (Aliyah Akram and Sam Block) Durham IV 2008 (Doug Cochran and Charlotte Thomas) Reading Open 2009 (Sam Block and Mhairi Murdoch) UCL Open 2009 (Doug Cochran and Mary Nugent) LSE Open 2009 (Doug Cochran and Harish Natarajan) Yeditepe Open 2009 (Doug Cochran & Stuart Cribb)

Finalists

ESU Mace 2008 (Jo Box and Giles Robertson) KCL IV 2008 (Elisa Haining and Jack Watson) UCD IV 2008 (Jo Box and Olga Polunina) SSE Riga IV 2008 (Aliyah Akram and Mary Nugent, Will Davis and Charlotte Thomas) Inner Temple 2009 (Harish Natarajan and Jack Watson) Manchester IV 2009 (Ranald Clouston and Harish Natarajan) Royal Holloway IV 2009 (Doug Cochran and Jack Watson) Amsterdam Open 2009 (Richard Lau and Jack Watson, Jo Box and Will Davis) Bristol Open 2009 (Doug Cochran and Harish Natarajan)

Semi-Finalists

Bristol IV 2008 (Caroline Radnofsky and Jack Watson) Imperial IV 2008 (Sean Koh and Orlaith O'Connor) Cork IV 2008 (Richard Lau and Harish Natarajan) Oxford IV 2008 (Jo Box and Giles Robertson, Sam Block and Mhairi Murdoch) ESU Mace 2008 (Doug Cochran and Elisa Haining) Durham IV 2008 (Elisa Haining and Jack Watson) UCL Open 2009 (Sean Koh and David Middlemiss) Durham Open 2008 (Jo Box and Richard Lau) Yeditepe Open 2009 (Uven Chong and Richard Lau)