Following government advice about social gatherings during the Coronavirus crisis, we have decided to suspend our meetings until further notice. We will let everyone know as soon as ‘normal service’ is resumed, but in the meantime please take care, and stay safe. Trish Penney, Chair, Brighton and Hove Debating Society

Our latest venture, a hands on workshop, attracted 6 MeetUp visitors plus members of the society on March 10^th  all keen to gain confidence as future speakers. Jean Yates supervised the sessions having divulged some of the ‘tricks of the trade.’ Anthony Harris and Trish Penney were part of the mentoring team. Based on the success of this event, further workshops are likely incorporating the positive feedback received.

The desperate plight of the homeless was described by Patrick Wallace of St Annes Trust in a heartfelt and moving address that affected the audience deeply. In sharing his experience of working with the roofless for over 30 years, Patrick made special mention of young people caught up in this dilemma, and why so many end up on our streets. 

That left the task of challenging the motion to Raphael Hill. In his articulate and well-informed response he highlighted several reasons why people reject the help on offer, and that resources in any case are always likely to fall short of demand.

The sympathy vote however, went with the proposer but with the many abstaining.

Our January debate on the topic “Privacy is a thing of the past” was passed by the narrowest of margins – just one vote separated those for and against. The Proposer focussed on the vast amounts of data collected about us all today from CCTV to online transactions. The Opposer agreed but pointed out that with so much data stored it would be almost impossible to identify a single individual in a way that would truly affect their privacy. There was also discussion of whether we ever had privacy in the pre-technology era when so much of our lives involved dealing directly with other people rather than anonymous machines. The audience contributions were as thought provoking as ever, with some recalling how we have all happily acquiesced in sharing our passports or other documentation when needed and others dwelling on the lessons of the “phone hacking” scandal of the last decade. As usual discussions over coffee continued long after he formal vote was taken and a thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all.

The evening began in festive mood with wine and nibbles provided. This was the context for the Proposer’s good-humoured address on the joys of retreating into one’s private space to escape from an increasingly noisy and intrusive world.

This did little to prepare us for the onslaught that followed. In response the Opposer was at pains to highlight the torment of all those denied human contact due to incarceration, living alone or extreme ill-health. The fault lay in the motion which, in its absolutism, failed to recognise victims of solitude, so pronounced the Opposer.

By the sheer force of logic the motion was lost.

Our November event took the form of a discussion evening on the topic ‘Technology Stifles Imagination’. Discussion evenings are always lively events, with everyone taking the opportunity to contribute their thoughts in the less formal atmosphere than that of a traditional debate. On this occasion the majority of the audience felt that Technology did not stifle imagination, and after the vote had been taken, the discussion continued over a cup of coffee in our cafe.