Kent Debating Society

Latest Updates: debating RSS

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  Welcome Back!

  Oliver Blackley 7:01 pm on September 25, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: 2010 (5), debating, freshers (6), kent debating society (2), welcome (4)

  Hello and welcome to the Kent Debating website, and to another year at the University of Kent!

  This year promises to be an exciting and eventful one for Kent Debating , and we very much hope you’ll decide to be a part of the growth and development of 2010’s Best New Society.

  Here’s a quick look at some of the events planned for the Autumn term:

  Sept 29th – Introduction & Freshers Debate Winner
  Oct 6th – Beginners Workshop & THW Raise The Drinking Age
  Oct 13th – THW Legalise All Drugs
  Oct 20th – THW Introduce a Fat Tax
  Oct 27th – THB Pornography Empowers Women
  Nov 3rd – THW Not Support Israel
  Nov 10th – THB Britain is Broken

  We use the British Parliamentary format of debating, and whether you’re interested in speaking or just learning a little more about the issues, do come along. As well as this we also help develop public speaking and advocacy skills, which are essential to a successful university career.

  It’s also worth noting that we’ve changed the venue of our weekly debates from Darwin to Keynes Lecture Theatre 5 (above K-Bar).

  So, if you’re interested in gaining new skills, meeting new people and broadening your knowledge on contemporary issues, come along to a debate and sign up on the Kent Union website, or by following this link here.

  I look forward to seeing you all!

  Oliver Blackley
  President

   

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  President’s Year Report

  Tom Barker 3:11 pm on April 9, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: abortion (2), competitions, debates, debating, elections (8), inner temple, kent debating society (2), santa clause, university of kent

  As I wind down, temporarily, from studies now would be a suitable time to sum up KDS’s progress this year.

  A year ago, there was no debating society. About May time last year we finally got the society ratified and, with a hand-picked team of enthusiasts we went about setting it up.

  Less than a year later we have nearly sixty members, have sent teams to national debating competitions (including the presitigious Inner Temple IV) and have held debates on everything from the detainment of Santa Clause to abortion.

  Not that we want to dwell on past success, I’m still thoroughly disappointed with debating at the University of Kent. That may seem like a particularly negative thing to say but its more a consequence of my own impatience. While we have achieved a lot this year, the aim has always been to set up a society akin to the debating societies other universities have and we still have a long way to go.

  That means having 100s of members, sending teams to competitions nearly every week and running our own competitions. However, the mega challenge in achieving this is not getting those members or getting the funding, its doing all that but without losing Kent Debating Society’s best quality: its atmosphere.

  The members we have had this year (well those that attend most weeks, big thank you to those that signed up, paid up and never showed up; I can confirm your membership made for some great pizza for the rest of us!) have been a fantastic bunch and the friendly, welcoming and unintimidating atmosphere they have helped foster is something I must commend them for. Some of them are leaving this year and will be sorely missed but we hope that they come back when they’re outstanding in whatever they decide to do and take part in a guest-debate or two.

  On May 19th our elections for next year will be held at our AGM, signalling the end of my enjoyable time as President, I won’t be around next year either to run for anything, but I will be keeping tabs on things from afar to make sure the society is even better when I come back.

  So committee, whoever you will be, watch your backs.

  To a successful future!

  Tom

   
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  Introducing KDS Comment

  Tom Barker 4:07 pm on March 25, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Comment, debate (36), debating, free (2), kds (7), speech (2)

  I’d like to get the ball rolling on an idea we’ve had about using our webspace here more effectively by engaging more with our visitors.

  We want people, regardless of whether they are a member or not, to use this space to write pieces about anything that matters. Essentially we are swapping our voices for our pens (well, more appropriately, keyboards) and, just like we do on a Wednesday, we want others to respond and, then, we want the authors to defend their arguments.

  Maintaining the similarities with our debating, we would also encourage authors to have a go at writing for and against things they do not necessarily believe in.

  Unsurprisingly, I then need to state that the comments which follow this do not reflect the personal views of anyone and KDS do not take any responsibility for this.

  I’ll pressure the committee to get writing for contributions to be delivered on our digital soapbox but visitors must feel free to try and beat us to it. Email us at comment@kentdebating.co.uk with pieces.

  Happy ranting!