Iona and Braemar have taken out the senior and junior interhouse debating competitions respectively this year!

In the senior competition, we debated ‘That Disney should remove sexist and racist content from their films before releasing them on Disney Plus’. In a rare win for Iona, Lara Seaton and Penelope Hare came a clear first, debating superbly. Braemar, Solway, then Girton followed. 

In the junior competition, the motion was ‘That, as a species, we would rather go extinct than be factory farmed’. In possibly the closest and most high quality junior debate of the year, Clara Ballantyne and Brenna Lyons of Braemar took first place, closely followed by Solway, then two Iona teams. The debate was very entertaining, with Iona’s Anise Maclean and Skyla Murray arguing that a future alien species would only choose to revive us if we died in a mysterious way, and securing a well-deserved third place. 

For the first time, both interhouse competitions took place in British Parliamentary style, meaning all four houses could compete against each other in a single debate. Speakers had just 15 minutes after being told the motion to write their case, and were up against three other teams, one of which they had to simultaneously agree with and beat. 

Congratulations to Iona and Braemar, as well as all competing teams! 

Abby Bowmar (Debating Captain)