Monday 10th May 2010
In the final of the Junior House Debating Competition Cowdrey won, narrowly, in an evening of excellent debating. Proposing the motion that “This House Believes that Patriotism is Misguided”, Cowdrey’s trio of Matthew Field, Tom Harris and Freddie Hopkinson stressed the dangers of patriotism; it lead to intolerance and nationalism and they gave numerous examples from history of where this has happened. In response Smythe’s debaters of Sam Westlake, Hugh Granger and Toby McBride stressed the sense of pride and community that patriotism engendered and strongly rejected the claims that patriotism was in any way jingoistic.
It was very close indeed and, after a fluent concluding speech from Smythe, the opposers seemed to have clinched it. However, in what was perhaps the highlight of the evening, Matthew Field produced a passionate and eloquent final speech in which he emphasized the practical effects of patriotism and its deleterious consequences. It was this, Mr Murgatroyd told us in his adjudication, which led the judges to give the debate to Cowdrey House.
