#debating matters

[galaxy-pidges]

debating quotes 2k17

'you can't timeshare a banana' 'europe has always been unified' 'you can't send an army to fight the sea' 'what happens when the sun runs out' 'dictatorship may be the solution'

[spiked-watch-blog]

Let’s talk @spikedonline and their friends

As Spiked! don't like to be reminded about their origins, let's talk once more about them. Who are they? Where do they come from?

The magazine originates in the RCP, the Revolutionary Communist Party. (In leftist circles we used to call the RCP the “Revolutionary Cocktail Party”, due to the upper class origin of many of their cadres.) Nick Cohen writes here a very good piece about the RCP, this fascinating a certainly deluded political organisation. 

The RCP, of which academic @Furedibyte was the chief ideologue (then under the nom de guerre of Frank Richards), used to publish the magazine known as Living Marxism. Both were known for their pleasure for alienating everyone on the left, with their contradictory views on mostly everything, which could be said to originate in cosy intellectual games more than real working class politics — they have never been interested in the working class, even if now and then they hide behind it to promote their reactionary ideas. 

Living Marxism (also known as LM after a while, perhaps in order to hide their pseudo-Marxist origins) had a very similar editorial line to @spikedonline: contrarianism, puerile contrarianism, contradictory and dishonest contrarianism, driven not so much by conviction but the need to have a hot take — this doesn’t rule out that some of them got to believe the things they write about. 

You can LM’s back issues here. There’s an archive of their back issues here too. You will recognise many of Spiked! usual favourite topics: moral panics (when discussing pedophilia), anti-environmentalism (it’s enviromentalists who are the real nazis), the defence of free speech no matter what (as long as you agree with them, as the tight editorial policy of the magazine makes it clear), anti-Labour bias, victim blaming, anti-feminism (they are the real feminists, blah blah blah), etc. Their hot takes have remained stable throughout the decades, although recently they are shifting away from their open borders politics in order to embrace Brexit.  

Living Marxism (LM) was sued for libel after publishing an article denying the genocide in the Serbian death camps. The article — an embarrassing piece of fact-anemic “journalism”, even by their standards — was called "The picture that fooled the world". A typical cuntrarian article but that cost them dearly. LM lost the libel case and had to fold. The editor at the time was Mick Hume, in case the name rings a bell. His name still pops up on Spiked!, so the name might indeed ring a bell. 

The former RCP and LM'ers survive this day loosely gathered around several fronts. They are knows by those who’ve clocked them as the LM Network, a name they don’t adhere to, needless to say. 

Some of their fronts are: 

Spiked Online (obviously)

Debating Matters

Sense about Science

The Institute of Ideas

The Manifesto Club

WORLDWrite

The East London Science School

Invoke Democracy NOW

among others...

Since their RCP days the LM Network has been very "jesuitical", putting a lot of effort in recruiting cadres from the youth, particularly in educational institutions. Anyone who had the displeasure of being courted by them can tell you that they are good orators, they can seduce young people with their hypocritical and dishonest contrarian bullshit; they make you feel like you need to earn your place among them — as someone told us: “the SWP would buy anyone a pint in the SU bar, not the RCP, you had to be chosen...” 

The ex-RCP/LM Network are even today very powerful in educational institutions. Particularly in the University of Kent, where Furedi, Joanna Williams (education editor at Spiked!), and several other Spiked contributors work/study or have worked/studied: Ellie Lee, Patrick Marmion, Tiffany Jenkins, Nikos Sotirakopoulus, et al. But also through their Debating Matters front, and of course the East London Science School, where many of them have worked and continue to work, much to the dismay of the parents and staff who managed to figure out who they are, taking their children and careers elsewhere. 

They have worked and continue to work very much like an entryist cult, with very clear ideological shifts in tandem. And they've hidden and hide behind these fronts that seem about non-partisan openness, when in reality are there to promote their agenda, closing debate by mere act of having their cronies hog the mike, as Jenny Turner describes so well  in this piece about the Institute of Ideas’ Battle of ideas.

It is hard to gauge the real influence of this group of people. But their ability to secure spaces without revealing their real intentions and politics, and their work in schools and universities, are of great concern. 

[galaxy-pidges]

thanks, siri

debating judge: complicated question about how autonomous technologies understand the environment they are in when used in self-driving cars

other judge's siri: I'm sorry, I don't understand that

this is the story of how siri answered a question better than several highly experienced sixth form debaters could

[thecymbalyorkcollege-blog]

We're glad to see that featured in College's staff news are our editor's photography and a quote from Harriet Rogerson's interview with debating team captain and Cymbal politics writer Ash Teague.

This is the sort of collaboration and sharing which makes our type of journalism important to us and deomonstrates to us that we're making student voices heard as they truly are. 

Check out Harriet's original article here.

https://www.yorkcollege.ac.uk/intranet/339-support-departments/marketing-department/staff-news/staff-news-december-2014/1689-debating-team-win-north-yorkshire-title.html

[thecymbalyorkcollege-blog]

York College Debating Team Win North Yorkshire Title in National Competition

Harriet Rogerson

     Josh Salter and Ash Teague compete in the final against Harrogate        Grammar.

On Thursday 27th November, York College's very own debating team headed to the Mount School in York. Various schools from around the area met to face each other for the national Debating Matters competition.

Debating Matters is a competition held all around the UK for post-16 and college students. Teams are given a topic to debate and the side that they must argue. Ash Teague who organised the event said “DM is a fantastic organisation that everyone can get behind. It promotes team work, hard work and friendly competition.” The topics we were given were "the UK must embrace the use of fracking" and "we should be willing to compromise our personal privacy in the interest of national and international security". Two topics which when we first looked at we knew very little about, but through intense research and planning, the team came out of the Mount School, not only beaming with joy as we had beaten all our opponents and successfully fought our way to the regional finals, but feeling enlightened on two subjects that had previously been new to us all.

In the First debate against The Mount School, Freya Marshall Payne and Liam Cook were the ones to take the spotlight to argue that the UK should not embrace the use of Fracking. We knew we had to win this to get through to the finals of the day and so it certainly was an intense debate. Liam, the chair of the York College debating society said "Doing Debating Matters reaffirmed my love of debating as a competitive sport, allowing us all to work together and prove our skills". Debating Matters is a competition that focuses much more on the content of the argument than the style you use to debate. After the initial 3 minute opening speeches, strong knowledge of the subject was key when it came to the judges’ and audience’s questions, as the way the debaters reacted to these could've completely turned around the day. With the knowledge and passion that Freya and Liam were portraying, it definitely was a well-deserved win and the team had the opportunity to battle in the final.

     Left to right: Callum Moran, Harriet Rogerson and Alice Willoughby          (researchers for the College Team), Liam Cook and Freya Marshall        Payne, and David Holbrook and Clare Kirton (tutors who helped).            Outside. above Alice's head: Ash Teague and Josh Salter. 

After watching Harrogate Grammar top Woodhouse Grove for a place against our team in the final, Josh Salter and Ash Teague went up to argue that we should be willing to compromise our national and international privacy in the interest of security. They produced strong opening presentations, and handled the judges' vigorous questioning perfectly. The head to head debate became heated and energetic with both teams doing everything they could to win over the judges, but in the end, with the evidence they gave and the substance of the argument given, the judges chose York College to have to opportunity of participating in the Regional Finals in the West Yorkshire Playhouse next March.

Alice Willoughby, one of the AS students on the research and supporting side of the team said "Supporting the team gave me confidence in debating on my own, I'd recommend it to anyone just for enjoyment or to help with their future career." If any AS students are looking for the great opportunities that Debating Matters gives, come along to Debating Society and follow in the footsteps of this year’s victory.

Debating Society: every Tuesday 13:10h - 14:00h in 2F111.

Join our facebook group "York College Debating Society".

[thecymbalyorkcollege-blog]

York College Debating Team Are North Yorkshire Champions

Josh Salter and Ash Teague during their debate on state surveillance

On Thursday 27th November York College won the North Yorkshire qualifying round in the national competition Debating Matters. The judges noted that this was an exceptional year in which all the teams were well prepared and the competition was close. However, Liam Cook and Freya Marshall Payne, who represented our college in the first debate, were praised for their clear commitment to their position on fracking and the judges complimented Ash Teague and Josh Salter, who won the final, on their adept use of data and ability challenging their opponents from Harrogate Grammar School during the cross examination phase of their debate on state surveillance.

  Ash, Josh, Liam and Freya will be competing in the regional phase of the competition, which is run by the Institute of Ideas, in March. 

   We will be hearing more about this in Harriet Rogerson's article in Issue 1 of The Cymbal. She, Callum Moran and Alice Willoughby provided excellent support for this year's team and are looking forward to representing York College in Debating Matters themselves next year.

[whynottofallinlove]

Debating was good fun (: LOADS of people rocked up and we watched a "mock" debate so everyone knew the format (English parliamentary debating? something like that anyway...) Then we went off into groups with members of the committee and did 1minute 'indefensible debates' of really stupid things ("This house believes that everyone in Britain should live in tents" etc etc) to give us a taster. The guy running our group complimented me on my debating skills which was nice.

They hold large, question time style debates on Friday evenings; this weeks is to do with Maggie Thatcher and they've got Katie Hopkins coming in, as well as other well known speakers (I can't go because I'm at Paramore, but still). I can see myself getting into debating, everyone there was really nice (mainly Law & Politics students haha) plus it's a lot of fun (:

We had a champagne social after, and because I'd gone to debating by myself it was a good chance to force myself to talk to other people (: All together it was a very good evening.

Tonight I'm making Spaghetti Bolognese for the whole flat... 

[thegirlwhodidstuff]

Just a little bit of what I learnt at this weekend's "Debating Matters" national final.

Take it as you will.

http://tryingfordimples.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/debating-matters-competition-just-tiny.html