Wow. Just wow.

As James and I made clear in our closing comments today, the debate on bankers' bonuses was really brilliant. Of course, there is always room for improvement and we identified keeping everybody involved throughout the debate, and avoiding overlap as some of the things that Rosa, David, Ben and Willem can work on.

However, these problems are easily resolved, and what the debaters should be proud of is the clarity and considered approach with which they debated today. No one was left in a muddle at the end of the debate, and the arguments on either side were very persuasive.

In the end, we decided to give the bonus to Willem and Ben, and the floor agreed with us by a massive majority. This majority did not reflect just how close the debate was, and it was by a small margin that David and Rosa lost out today.

Last week, some brilliant performances were put in by the Year 7s, who for the last time for a while, debated in front of the whole team. Jordan and Ellie stole the audience vote by a sliver, and also bagged our bonus. On 18 November, I was not available, but have heard that there was a brilliant debate, the only one so far this year to split the judges and the popular vote.

What's new? As I have alluded to, the society has a new system. Year 7s and other members now debate on alternative weeks. During Year 7 debates, students from Years 8 – 11 work on their next showdown; James and I watching over proceedings and holding workshops.