[Debatewise RRT] debates
- From: "Alex Helling" <alex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 19:53:16 +0100
Hi everyone,
I make Sarah debater of the month again (incidentally
highest score I have seen under my counting system). I have now noted down
the karma scores of the top contributors so I will be able to see the change
for next month. No idea yet what I will do to reconcile the two systems (at
the moment I am hoping that we won't have anyone new pop up and suddenly
write enough that they might win next month as they may ruin things!) I am
happy for any suggestions. Ultimately this may be a part of a bigger shake
up of how things are rated. Obviously we want to keep karma but I am rather
fond of the idea of having it on a separate page along with other measures,
such as the number of times people have voted your way on arguments (would
not work very well at the moment as so many people write both sides of the
argument!) Perhaps the number of times you have gained applause for
comments. Top debate creators... etc.
We are also in the beginning to think about splitting the RRT's job up as we
hopefully recruit more members hopefully we will get to the point where
sending out 10 debates a week will be too little. More on this next time
when hopefully where we are going will be a little firmer.
Alex
Debates:
There will be a solution to Tibet in the current Dalai Lama's lifetime.
Given China's grip on Tibet and an unwillingness even to negotiate with the
Dalai Lama it seems unlikely that there can be any solution any time soon
between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities over the situation in
Tibet. However there are some hopeful signs. The Dalai Lama has accepted
some form of autonomy since 1988 so meaning Tibet could remain a part of
China. This means it may simply be a case of waiting for China to become
less authoritarian as many in the west hope will slowly happen anyway.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/05/dalai-lama-tibet-resolution-chin
a
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/09/23/why_the_dalai_lama_needs_to
_get_real
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/artic
le3593475.ece
Nadal will be the greatest tennis player ever.
Rafael Nadal has won his second Wimbledon title having dashed British hopes
for Murray in the semis. Nadal is already the best player in the world as
Federer is declining. At only 24 he has 8 grand slams and plenty of time to
catch up to Federer's 16 grand slams. Is he going to be the greatest tennis
player ever?
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/nadal-power-and-the-glory-2018427.
html
http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/2736
Do young people need to go to university to succeed?
The policy of the last government was to turn out more and more graduates
regardless of the quality of their degrees or how well the students did in
them. Everyone should get the opportunity to go to university but this does
not mean that we need to go to university to succeed. Apprentiships may be
as good a way to get into a career. At the same time graduate jobs are
becoming much more sought after, there will be 70 applicants for each
graduate job this year and anyone with less than a 2:1 can practically
forget about it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-degree
s-are-a-waste-of-time-ndash-the-damning-verdict-of-british-students-807002.h
tml
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/education/US-Economists-Say-University-
Not-Only-Way-to-Success-96300374.html
Is Alternative Vote a better voting system than First Past The Post?
Nick Clegg has secured the May 5th date next year for the referendum on the
Alternative Vote. But will it be fairer than the current First Past the Post
system? AV comes with strings attached, with Cameron demanding that
constituencies be more equally resized to offset the Conservative loss of
seats.
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/votingsystems/avrules.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/10/alternative-vote-minimal-impa
ct-general-election
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/neilobrien1/100039191/breaking-news-senior
-lib-dem-says-move-to-av-voting-system-would-be-unacceptably-unfair/
(We tried one on AV just after the election, I wonder whether the title was
too nebulous so thought we should try again. After all it will probably be a
big issue until we get a vote on it)
BBC One and BBC Two lack diversity, imagination and innovation.
A review conducted by BBC's governing body, BBC Trust, found that too many
of the shows on the channels were "formulaic and derivative", with little or
no attempt to break out of the long-running generic models of antiques
shows, house-hunting and other daytime schedules.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/service_reviews/service_licences/revi
ews_tv.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jul/05/bbc-daytime
Universities should support graduates in getting a job.
The number of graduate applicants per position has more than doubled in the
past two years. In the context of the significantly fewer positions made
available on the market, as well as the number of redundancy figures since
the recession, universities seem to be generating an ever increasing number
of graduates without investing any useful or practical training skills in
preparation for recruitment. Should universities be concentrating less on
academia and more on making their students employable?
http://www.agr.org.uk/Content/draft89
http://www.pareto.co.uk/graduate_jobs/news/students_graduate_job_954.aspx
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/us-on-a-collision-course_n_612359.h
tml
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/comment-how
-universities-and-graduates-can-thrive-918572.html
On the site:
Should the US have a 'kill switch' on the internet to be used in a national
emergency?
A committee in the US senate has approved a cybersecurity bill that would
give the US President the authority to shut down parts of the internet
during a cyber attack. However the internet is an international place and is
normally decentralised. Trying to centralise cybersecurity may not be
helpful. However the president may already have this authority and cyber
attacks are an increasing problem so the US needs clear up to date
legislation. Would a 'kill switch' be the right thing to do?
http://news.techworld.com/security/3228198/obama-internet-kill-switch-plan-a
pproved-by-us-senate/?olo=rss
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/105377-senate-homeland-s
ecurity-committee-approves-cybersecurity-bill-
Democracy is in retreat.
Freedom House who measure the advance or retreat of democracy and freedom
around the world is currently seeing "more countries seeing declines in
overall freedom than gains". Freedom and Democracy are in retreat. But is
this really true? Many of the places with a retreat in freedoms were never
really free so we can't expect them to always make gains. Democracy might be
stagnating and not advancing, but in the midst of a recession can we really
expect any better?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/04/AR2010070403
849.html
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70
<http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=1120>
&release=1120
The first priority of government should be job creation.
It seems that the economic priority of the government is to do anything but
create more jobs. The Brown government poured most of its recession spending
into bailing out banks that then did not help businesses, so not helping
create jobs. Cameron's priority is cutting the deficit, so creating more
unemployment. Yet much of the deficit is created by extra welfare costs and
less tax revenues due to having people out of work. Tackle unemployment and
you tackle some of the other big problems.
http://www.slate.com/id/2258809
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/news/1007683/Governments-priority-encourage-priv
ate-sector-job-creation-says-Work-Foundation/
Gay bishops should be ordained.
The Anglican Church has been in dispute over whether there should be Gay
bishops for years. Particularly between the mainstream of Anglicanism and
the US church. In 2003 Jeffery John was forced to withdraw from being
appointed Bishop of Reading but now Archbishop Rowan Williams wants to
appoint him Bishop of Southwark which will reopen old wounds and be a battle
for the Church. Should there be gay bishops?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7873464/Traditionalist-C
hurch-of-England-groups-warn-of-defections-if-gay-bishop-is-ordained.html
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/05/17/us-lesbian-bishop-mary-glasspool-is-ord
ained/
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