The GUU delegation at the Durham Open with winners Bethany Garry (standing) and Owen Mooney (green shirt) – © GUU

The Durham Open 2017 was won by GUU A (Bethany Garry and Owen Mooney) in Opening Opposition on an open motion. They debated against Consider Phlebas (Sam van Elk, Cambridge and Joe Roussos, LSE) in Opening Government, Oxford RJ (Jure Hederih and Raffy Marshall) in Closing Government and Cambridge E (Camilo Ruiz and Matt Hankin) in Closing Opposition.

The final was judged by Kez Exley (C) Dee Courtney, Aislin Flynn, Rory Flynn and Chris Paschali

Best speaker of the tournament was Joe Roussos with an average of 85.6 speaker points.

CAs of the tournament were John Papantoniou, Aislin Flynn and Tommy Peto.

The tournament was organized by the Durham Union Society and convened by Rory Flynn and Eric Sargent.

The Break:

1. Consider Phlebas (Sam van Elk, Cambridge and Joe Roussos, LSE) – 14 team points
2. GUU A (Bethany Garry and Owen Mooney) – 13 team points
3. Oxford B (Teck Wei Tan and Sophie Large) – 11 team points
4. Cambridge E (Camilo Ruiz and Matt Hankin) – 10 team points
5. hung like parliament and running through a wheat field… naughty! (Tim Squirrell and Nish Hegde, Edinburgh) – 10 team points
6. RGS C (Kit Mercer and Suuluu Candles, Newcastle)  – 10 team points
7. Oxford RJ (Jure Hederih and Raffy Marshall) – 10 team points
8. The PoC Police (Brian Wong and Hassan Aftab) – 10 team points

Judges Break: 

Aayan Atiq, Dee Courtney, Kez Exley, Aislin Flynn, Rory Flynn, Brynne Guthrie.Floris Holstege, Ellie Markham, John Papantoniou, Chris Paschali, Tommy Peto, Clara Rupf, Eric Sargent, Andrew Seow

The Motions:

R1: THR the inculcation of national identity through shared rituals (eg national ceremonies, anthems, pledges of allegiance, etc).

R2: THS the continued consumption of old novels and films that endorse – even tacitly – beliefs that today would be considered bigoted.

R3: THW ban all private healthcare.

R4: This house would ban international aid charities from using sensational, graphic or overly-emotional images of suffering.

R5: This house believes that developing countries should ban members of political dynasties from standing for elected office.

SF: Open Motion

F: Open Motion

hh./jm.