Oxford Debates

Past debates


Trinity Term 2010

Drug bag. Credit: Toby Whiting, PAD

Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in sport

  • Moderator - Professor Roger Crisp
  • Proposer - Professor Julian Savulescu
  • Opposer - Dr John William Devine

Motion was opposed 18% to 82%

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Hilary Term 2010

politician reading Sun Tzu. Credit: Toby Whiting, PAD

Military experts, not political amateurs, should decide whether we go to war

  • Moderator: Dr Robert Johnson
  • Proposer: Professor Hew Strachan
  • Opposer: Professor Vernon Bogdanor

Motion was opposed 43% to 57%

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Trinity Term 2009

unhealthy image debate

The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness

  • Moderator - Dr Paula Boddington
  • Proposer - Dr Mark Sheehan
  • Opposer - Charles Foster

Motion was opposed 15% to 85%

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Hilary Term 2009

W H Auden

Poetry is beautiful, but science is what matters

  • Moderator - Professor Sally Shuttleworth
  • Proposer - Professor Peter Atkins
  • Opposer - Dr Peter McDonald

Motion was opposed 38% to 62%

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Michaelmas Term 2008

top hat for debates

The current financial crisis sounds the death knell for laissez-faire capitalism

  • Moderator - Professor Colin Mayer
  • Proposer - Professor Jonathan Michie
  • Opposer - Dr Linda Yueh

Motion was carried 54% to 46%

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Trinity Term 2008

Nuclear power plant

The nuclear option is the only real green option

  • Moderator - Professor Ian Walmsley
  • Proposer - Sir David King
  • Opposer - Dr Brenda Boardman

Motion was opposed 29% to 71%

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