Thomason win third House debating title in a row

This year’s motion for the senior House debating final was the very challenging This House believes that following orders is a legitimate defence for war crimes. The Thomason team of Lewis Colson and Alex Devine impressed the judges with their proposition enough to win a third title in a row. Their opponents were Edmonstone.

For the senior final, the debaters, by tradition, stand in the middle of quad while the master i/c debating processes from the Porter’s Lodge and then reveals the motion, giving the competitors one hour to prepare.

The Thomason team of Ben Phillips and Lewis Colson had won their round and semi-final, but Ben was away on interview, so Alex Devine stepped in; Edmonstone were represented by Dhruv Sarma and Alex Eggers. Thomason repeated their team line that following order is necessary in any military situation to great effect; Edmonstone countered by showing how humans have free will and therefore must be expected to make moral decisions. It was a particularly close decision this year, but in the end the judges found Lewis and Alex more convincing and gave Thomason the trophy for the third year in the row.