Split (1)

test · 3.68k rows

query stringlengths 3 5.5k	positive list	negative list
Defamation While South African Law does allow for freedom of speech, and the constitution is one of the most liberal in the world for protecting such freedoms, it must be measured against the need for responsibility in the use of such freedoms to prevent offence. Whatever one believes about ‘The Spear’ it is clear th...	[ "reputation and defamation house believes spear should have remained Jacob Zuma had a right to sue, which he made use of before dropping his claim for defamation. However, for his supporters inside and outside the ANC to attack The Goodman Gallery, City Press and Brett Murray personally is irresponsible and stifles...	[ "The law is contrary to the constitution Chapter 4 of the Ugandan constitution recognises fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual as inherent and not granted by the State. The constitution states; All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural li...
Changes negative perceptions of university life Affirmative action is required to change negative perceptions of university life. In the status quo, many talented potential students are put off applying for top universities (or university at all) because of their negative perceptions of elite institutions. This percep...	[ "niversity philosophy political philosophy minorities house would use positive Positive discrimination will increase negative perceptions of university. Far from changing attitudes about campus life among disadvantaged groups, positive discrimination is likely to be seen as patronising, belittling of the achievemen...	[ "ucation secondary university philosophy religion minorities house believes use Affirmative action creates bad workplaces for all minorities Affirmative action creates a negative workplaces for all minorities whose group receives affirmative action support. The existence of affirmative action creates a de-facto a...
An individual's BMI is no longer a purely personal matter The obesity epidemic is taking an enormous toll on global medical costs. In the US alone the health care costs attributable to either direct or indirect consequences of obesity have been estimated at $147bn. [1] Put into context, this amounts to roughly 9% of t...	[ "tax health health general healthcare weight house would implement fat tax An important source of extravagant medical spending around the world, especially in the US, can be traced to inherent inefficiencies of current medical care systems. [1] And the current trends show the situation to be worsening. It is thus ...	[ "tax health health general healthcare weight house would implement fat tax A fat tax levels out the playing field for healthier food An important reason why people continuously turn to unhealthy, fat, sugar and salt laden food, is the simple fact that it’s often cheaper than a more wholesome meal comprised at leas...
The FTAA is bad for industries in developing nations. This agreement would put farmers and workers in some of the world’s most impoverished nations in direct competition with some of the richest companies in the developed world. FTAA would have small, domestic industries in countries like Bolivia or Haiti compete with...	[ "economic policy economy general international americas house supports creation Protectionism cannot create a healthy national industry. Only by competing openly against each other on the global market, companies become truly efficient and effective. And small, local companies and industries can often have the adva...	[ "Offshore outsourcing is consistent with existing labour distribution patterns. Offshore outsourcing lowers the cost of goods and services. There is no real need for all of the goods and services that are consumed within a highly developed economy to be produced in that economy. The sale price of a particular form...
Exacerbation of poor conditions Terrorism creates a perpetual situation of poverty and anxiety within the community. Terrorism creates an unsafe situation for the local community, which has several consequences: firstly, people are less able to continue their daily actions, such as going to work or school of they are ...	[ "political philosophy politics terrorism house believes terrorism can be In extreme cases, communities already live in very poor conditions, and terrorism can bring attention to their cause and provide an escape of their situation. By bringing attention to the poor conditions people are living in, and the oppressio...	[ "Internment without trial exacerbates the antagonism of enemies and subsequent risk to civilians. To intern without trial, for prolonged periods, the believed enemies of a state is to offer them and their supporters added reason to be antagonistic. In Northern Ireland, “violence soared following the introduction o...
Closed source software is better at meeting consumer needs. Closed source software companies are more than capable of segmenting their products to reach each part of the market, as Microsoft has shown by producing its new Windows 7 operating system in a record six different versions. Microsoft’s monopoly of desktop c...	[ "digital freedoms intellectual property house believes governments should As the demands of government IT departments become more and more complex, software developers are forced to become increasingly specialized. Yet big firms like Microsoft often lack specialist depth and an understanding of niche markets (such ...	[ "ACTA attacks free software and privatises data ACTA represents a fundamental attack on the right to produce or host free software. It is written in such a way as would protect the rights of corporations such as Microsoft to build systems that require updating while, at the same time undermining freeware software ...
Georgian rule in South Ossetia is historically illegitimate and oppressive Modern Georgia never really controlled S. Ossetia. South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia shortly after Georgia gained independence from the disintegrating USSR in 1991. South Ossetia has maintained de facto independence ever since. [...	[ "global politics society minorities house believes south ossetia should be Georgia's government is democratic and modern in its institutions. It is fully capable and intent on governing S. Ossetia democratically and honestly. Moreover, if the aim of the S. Osseitans' is to join with Russia, upon seceding from Georg...	[ "Russian and US strategic interests conflict Contradictions between Russian and U.S. interests will always exist. The United States is not Russia's ally, and it can be confidently predicted that it never will be. While politically the two countries sometimes temporarily need each other to face global challenges, a...
Diplomatic relations European states in particular put a particular emphasis on capital punishment when determining human rights issues for foreign policy. The UK for example has a policy of promoting and lobbying for the abolition of capital punishment with foreign governments. [1] This will help generate goodwill f...	[ "ights punishment philosophy ethics life house believes capital punishment It should be for a state to independently determine its criminal justice policy. At any rate, there are some developed states that maintain capital punishment; they are hardly likely to impose diplomatic penalties on other states that do the...	[ "The death penalty is racist Like the rest of the American criminal justice system, capital punishment in America is institutionally racist: black men make up 6% of the US population as a whole but 40% of those on Death Row [1] . In the US, African-Americans and White people are murdered in almost equal numbers, b...
Incentivising movement so there are teachers where they are needed Although the extent of rural-urban disparities remains debatable, geographical disparities in living standards and education are articulated across Africa. The location, and provision, of teachers does not always match need. In Uganda, the universalis...	[ "ary teaching international africa house believes lack investment teachers A positive intervention to tackle geographical disparities in education is by introducing long-distance learning. ICT and technology makes such a reality possible. Such proposals require institutional change. The capacity of local, and regi...	[ "ary teaching international africa house believes lack investment teachers A key concern in achieving the MDG is quality control - regulation is required to do so, and the standard of teaching needs to be monitored; this cannot be done at home. Investing in teachers will ensure basic needs are met. Teachers are th...
Voters do not understand or care about EU reforms. They would have found the legal jargon off-putting and a detailed knowledge of the existing EU Treaties is necessary to understand the amendments proposed 1. They have limited understanding of the current system and therefore cannot evaluate how reform treaties would ...	[ "europe politics voting house would hold referendum any new eu treaty Voters do care about EU reforms, and they are owed the respect of being told in layman's terms what specific treaty changes would do in real terms. The Lisbon Treaty was unnecessarily complicated and full of jargon (Browne, 'Gobbledegook'). It is...	[ "An opportunity for civic studies There would be clear advantages in having elections while young people are still in school as school could help prepare them for the elections. Schools would be able to teach their students in advance what the ballot is like, about the process of voting, and most importantly about...
Has made little difference in the past The precedent of the Line Item Veto Act under President Clinton should warn against a constitutional amendment. The sums saved were laughably small, $355 million, in the context of the entire federal budget, $1.7 trillion, (0.02% of spending)1 but nonetheless provoked considerabl...	[ "onal americas politics government house wants line item veto amendment The use of the line-item veto power by President Clinton in 1997 demonstrates the advantages of such authority. Although the power was declared unconstitutional in 1998 by the Supreme Court, while he held it Clinton demonstrated what could be a...	[ "Abolishing earmarks will save money Scrapping earmarks will save billions of dollars and contribute to reducing the appalling US budget deficit. Earmarks totalled about $16 billion of the 2009-10 budget, [1] unnecessary spending which should be cut in the interests of both present and future US taxpayers. Earmark...
An ICC enforcement is a necessity if there is to be international criminal justice The remit of the ICC is unlike the remit of any national court. It deals exclusively in crimes so unacceptable there is an international consensus behind their illegality and the need for prosecutions. The parties that signed up to the ...	[ "crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement While the ICC is a multinational body, it is designed to have a respect for individual nations court systems. It is mainly a “backstop” court, it is happy to see nations prosecute those offences – the Rome Statute mandates that the...	[ "americas middle east house believes us and israel should join international Ratification of the International Criminal Court would be a violation of national sovereignty Any state ratifying the Rome Statute, is placing its citizens at the mercy of a court that operates outside of national control. This is an unac...
Drugs currently fund terrorism and regional instability The Taliban gets most of its revenue from poppies, which provide the opium for heroin. They do this by intimidating local farmers who would otherwise sell their harvest at market. They then demand “protection money” as well, or else either another local warlord o...	[ "th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs Whether legal or illegal, drugs will still be a source of income for warlords and terrorist groups. Instead of starving them off, the dealers become more competitive and lower their prices. The only way to stop these people using drug...	[ "If cannabis was legalized, it could be regulated Many of the problems associated with cannabis use arise from the fact that it is illegal. Cannabis is the world’s most widely used illegal drug – 23% of Canadians admit to having smoked it and up to 7 million people in the UK are estimated to do so. In 2009, the U...
Affirmative action creates bad workplaces for all minorities Affirmative action creates a negative workplaces for all minorities whose group receives affirmative action support. The existence of affirmative action creates a de-facto assumption that anyone of that particular minority must have gotten where they are no...	[ "ucation secondary university philosophy religion minorities house believes use The prejudice that individuals in the workplace hold for these minorities already exist through their current perception of these people as being less qualified as them due to their conspicuous absence from the workplace as it is. The b...	[ "ucation secondary university philosophy religion minorities house believes use This issue is not whether or not meritocracy is good, but rather if society is meritocratic without intervention by the public or private sector. The system is not meritocratic without affirmative action; with the endemic psychological ...
Creationism is as valid a scientific theory as those of evolution and abiogenesis, and should therefore be given equal time in the classroom. Creationism can be drawn as an entirely reasonable scientific hypothesis, and it forms a coherent theory of the origin and development of life that opposes the naturalist theori...	[ "primary secondary teaching religion god science evolution house would teach Creationism is not science. It makes no predictions that can be tested in the laboratory or field. Adherents of Creationism do not accept it because of evidence, but rather they shape disparate facts to fit their beliefs. That is the oppos...	[ "y epistemology religion church faith religion general god morality secularism entirely natural theories can adequately explain belief in God and the development of religions, so an existent God is superfluous to the understanding of the phenomenon: The reason people believe in God and why religions have formed ca...
Individual Liberty outweighs any potential harms Whatever the potential harms that may arise from unrestrained free speech; they pale in comparison to the harm that arises from banning an individual from freely expressing his own mind. It is a matter of the upmost individual liberty that one’s thoughts and feelings a...	[ "speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house Liberty is an intangible right – restrictions on liberty can be equally intangible and entirely transitory based on the circumstances. What we know though is that real harm is derived from defaming an individual’s reputation, broa...	[ "nothing sacred house believes christians should be allowed wear cross Freedom of expression, like any right is fairly meaningless if it’s only respected when it’s convenient. Recognising rights when there is no inconvenience to anybody involved is verging on the irrelevant. This is, perhaps, especially true, with...
Poor families would be helped far more by investment in education and healthcare This has been an urban and political obsession from the outset. The idea that the hungry and homeless need condoms more than food and shelter is clearly absurd. The poor would be better helped through “accessible education, better hospita...	[ "church marriage religions society gender family house believes reproductive It is undeniably true that greater investment in public services would help the poor. It is however, difficult to see how these two things are mutually exclusive. Indeed the results of this measure look set to considerably increase the cha...	[ "onal europe politics government house believes russia needs strong leadership The best possible way to tackle the corruption issue, which lets face it is one of the major problems in Russia nowadays, is through a strong leader. Eastern European democratic countries are the pure example that corruption spreads when...
Defending hip hop artists’ right to free speech The intervention of the state is necessary in order to ensure that aggressive forms of hip hop remain accessible only to adults, especially in neighbourhoods and home environments that are not part of a cohesive, caring community. Some degree of public control over the c...	[ "living difference house would ban music containing lyrics glorify Banning one type of hip hop is not an effective way to intervene in a market that is in danger of dismantling itself. Governments are not record companies. They are not in a position to make nuanced judgements about the content, meaning and themes ...	[ "Reality television forces us to analyse our own behaviour as a society Reality TV actually has a lot of value to our society; they are effectively anthropological experiments, allowing the public to study people and societies from the comfort of their living rooms1. Humans are endlessly different and endlessly in...
A strong leader is working in the state’s best interest Putin’s authoritarian style is not a threat to democracy but rather a requirement for a successful and quicker transition. Having Putin control the media is probably healthier than having it be controlled by a corrupt few that promote their personal interests rat...	[ "onal europe politics government house believes russia needs strong leadership Putting your hopes and trust in a single person can be fairly dangerous, particularly in a transition period. Putin is not the state and his ability to control and represent the state and the population at large is questionable. Putin is...	[ "onal europe politics government house believes russia needs strong leadership The status quo reveals that several powerful and influential people are in charge of the whole state What is occurring in Russia now is closer to dictatorship rather than to strong leadership. Many commentators of the Russian political ...
Unlike warfare cyber-attacks don’t kill so they don’t need to be restricted in the same way Warfare needs to be closely regulated because of the numbers of people who can be killed and the devastation that can result. This is not something that is a concern with cyber-attacks. So far cyber-attacks have not been very e...	[ "global house would create international treatyban cyber attacks Clearly cyber-attacks are not currently deadly but this does not mean they will not become so in the future. Leon Panetta has warned “A cyber-attack perpetrated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist atta...	[ "warpeace science internet house would consider large scale cyber attack act war Definition of a large scale cyber attack is extremely vague Armed acts of aggression are a good method of judging if an action is an act of war because they result in actual destruction, violence and loss of human life. Cyber attacks,...
Just hold the trial by videolink It has already been agreed that defendants can appear at the court by videolink [1] for parts of the trial. This is not problematic, unless the defendants want to start representing themselves. Bearing in mind that Ruto and Kenyatta have been continuing to co-operate with the trial th...	[ "rnational africa law human rights international law government leadership voting Even though all parties agree to this, it is not appropriate for the ICC to be trying a sitting head of state anyway. The ICC is accepting this by holding the trial by videolink – no other court would do such a thing. While it sounds...	[ "rnational africa law human rights international law government leadership voting Kenya is an advanced state with a functioning system of the rule of law – except for those in power. With modern video technology, Ruto and Kenyatta could oversee the governance of the country from The Hague, or, alternatively, partic...
Jurors are already aware of information which might ‘bias’ their verdict. Jurors are frequently affected by media coverage of particular cases, which makes it almost impossible for them to remain impartial in the idealistic way which opposition naively believes possible. This creates a situation where the jury may be ...	[ "crime policing law general punishment society house would disclose previous If anything, this is an argument to prevent the media from publishing and details of a case or its defendant before the trial has been carried out, or from being more proactive and disqualifying jurors who ‘research’ their case before it c...	[ "crime policing law general punishment society house would disclose previous We already recognise that we cannot place complete trust in juries. Although we recognise that juries can provide valuable insight and represent the will of the general public in court cases [1] (and especially the communities in which th...
Open justice – crimes with large numbers of victims The principle of open justice, including the right to a public trial [1] , is enshrined in many legal systems. The best show of commitment to open justice is to allow everyone to watch it, the best method of doing so is for the trial to be televised. This is all the ...	[ "ure media television law international law house opposes televising all criminal Few people would actually watch the entirety of the trial proceedings, most would probably just see clips of the footage of news reports; television news coverage of criminal trials can already take place without actual footage. Whil...	[ "crime policing law general punishment society house would disclose previous The current system is unfairly weighted in favour of criminals. It is unfair that those who repeatedly re-offend should be treated in the same manner as those who have committed one offence; a singular offence could mark a mistake or acci...
Utilitarianism is demanding If we choose to save the five people just because we have the power to do so then we also have to consider all the other lives that are in our power to save. It is in our power to donate all of our excess money to charity to save lives and so we must also do this. Actions like this are wort...	[ "ethics life kill one save many junior In the train example there is no one else around and it is only you that can save the five lives. With the charity example there are many other ways in which the lives can be saved; governments can save them or other people can donate money. Therefore the moral duty to act is ...	[ "ethics life kill one save many junior Killing one person is the rational choice The philosopher John Rawls came up with a thought experiment to discover the right way to organize a society. When people talk about how society should be organized they generally take their own situation and interests into account. R...
Teacher’s personal life might undermine educational message. Access to a teacher’s private information and photos may lead to weakening her position as an educator. How can a teacher convincingly speak against smoking or substance abuse if students have access to pictures portraying the teacher themselves drinking or ...	[ "n science internet house would ban teachers interacting students social Teachers should always be careful about what they post and how they portray themselves on the internet, whether they are friends with their students or not. Such pictures might surface even if students don’t have direct access to them. An educ...	[ "n science internet house would ban teachers interacting students social Even if this were a great educational tool, some kids may not have access to it. Poverty or a parent’s life style choice might leave kids without access to a computer or the internet, preventing them from joining into such online discussions. ...
Improving the quality of state managed education State schools will, like the private schools, have to offer a high quality service in order that parents do not take their children elsewhere. This incentivises in particular high level management, who, if the school fails, will be out of a job with a blot on their reco...	[ "x education education general secondary house would fund education using Incentives like this can be (and in the UK, are) created by central government through the use of targets. Failing schools can receive extra funding and guidance, and threatened with closure if they do not improve. The voucher scheme’s harsh ...	[ "The US magazine Time found research in 2007 that suggested that private schools do not provide a better education than state schools, they do however have a higher percentage of students who would do well in any situation. This means that these children would not lose out by going to state schools. ‘The study says...
Power is shifting to the East Geography has a great influence on the position of nations and their foreign policies. For example it is the UK’s Island nation status that is a major reason why it is not fully committed to the European project. Attention internationally is now shifting to East Asia where the main rising...	[ "onal europe politics leadership house believes uk would have more influence There are also advantages to this power shift; the UK is less threatened so better able to act. The UK is therefore free to align itself with whichever powers it wishes rather than having alignments dictated by geography and who is threate...	[ "europe house believes federal europe Actually if the EU became a unified state, there would be s loss of UN Seats - a major democratic, liberal voting block in international institutions such as the UN would be lost, in return for one vote (for an incredibly powerful state). Due to the UK and France, both EU membe...
“After three years, it is clear that President Obama’s budget-busting policies have not created jobs and have only added to our debt,” The Obama administration has been profligate with taxpayers’ money, has failed to deal with the economic crisis and has increased the debt. His policies on health care show that he is ...	[ "economic policy tax politics government house doesnt trust republicans economy The Obama administration received one of the worst political legacies in US history. A broken economy, half a trillion dollars’ worth of debt, two expensive wars, a sick healthcare system and much more besides. In just three short years...	[ "Given the current state of the Republican field and the gravity of the challenges facing the US, Obama may well be not only the best but the only hope The Republican Party primary campaign currently resembles a dismembered chicken’s head in frantic search of a body. Palin, Trump, Perry… A string of gaffes followe...
There is scope for further diplomatic progress in the region through disengagement Reengagement has potential for having a positive influence in various contexts. Myanmar is rich in natural resources, including forest products, minerals and gems. Removing trade restrictions and offering developmental aid would benefit...	[ "asia global house would re engage myanmar Since the government is still controlled by the military and there is no evidence to that corruption levels will go down in the new regime, engaging in trade with Myanmar will only strengthen the ruling elite. There is little accountability for developmental aid actually r...	[ "Sanctions are the opposite of free trade and therefore should not be used because free trade has greater benefits. Sanctions prevent free trade, which is ultimately more effective for incentivizing reforms. Three mechanisms can be broadly identified through which free trade brings about democratization. Firstly, ...
Barrier contraception can protect women from husbands with AIDS/HIV. There are many cases, particularly in South America and Africa, of men contracting HIV from sexual partners outside their marriage, be it from before they were married or from an extramarital affair and passing it on to their wives. In cases such as ...	[ "sex sexuality international africa religion church morality house believes This would not protect wives. In these situations the wife would be expected to have unprotected sex, so that the couple could conceive a child, even if the Church condoned the use of contraception. If a husband contracts HIV, the Catholic ...	[ "sex sexuality international africa religion church morality house believes Opposed by much of the Church In spite of the Catholic Church's ruling, a huge number of people who identify as Catholic do not adhere to the Church's teachings on contraception. Additionally, many Catholic priests and nuns openly support ...
The threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of rogue states and terrorists increases as more countries possess them There are many dangerous dictators and tyrants, many of who covet the possession of nuclear weapons not just for the purpose of defence, but also for that of intimidating their neighbours. [1] S...	[ "defence house believes all nations have right nuclear weapons Government legitimacy is defined in its most limited form as the ability to provide security and stability within its jurisdiction. It seems fair to say that international institutions and states with a stake in international order, as most do, will hav...	[ "Existing international treaties that grant nuclear weapons to the US and other countries no longer reflect the changing global balance of power. The Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty is inherently unfair, in that it prevents countries that did not have nuclear weapons as of 1964 from developing them, but makes no...
Where there is a clear objection to discussing a certain subject, insisting on doing so is not news, it’s propaganda. Ultimately all news outlets report that which is of interest to their viewers. Where there is no interest or, more frequently, an active lack of interest, news outlet do not - and should not – impose a...	[ "bate living difference international middle east house believes news It seems perverse to suggest that consumers of news would be likely to abandon a channel on the basis of one story – or even several. Decisions by consumers of news are determined far more by the general outlook of a channel than by particular st...	[ "bate living difference international middle east house believes news A liberal bias among the journalistic elite in the West is hardly reason for changing the editorial policies of news outlets in nations that do not share those values. The first duty of the journalist must be their role as the eyes and ears of th...
Many UN organs carry out valuable work around the world. The United Nations is far more than simply a debating forum; it does a massive amount of vital work around the world through its other organs. Examples of these are the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNESCO, UNICEF, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), an...	[ "global house believes united nations has failed It is obviously true that some UN agencies and organs carry out valuable and useful work. However, there are two ways of looking at this. The first is that UN work often duplicates programs and programs carried out by NGOs, national governments and charities. Its wor...	[ "global house believes united nations has failed Stories of bureaucracy and delay in the General Assembly obscure the vital work that goes on, often unnoticed, through United Nations agencies every day. It is true that the UN’s decision-making processes are not terribly efficient but in a body comprising nearly 200...
As world becomes more globalised, the need for a global forum for resolving problems becomes ever more important. In a globalised economy nations depend on each other as never before, and the costs of war and conflict grow ever higher. So it is more important than ever than countries have a forum for resolving their d...	[ "global house believes united nations has failed It is arguable that the era of globalisation makes the United Nations less important, not more. Trade disputes are settled bilaterally or through the WTO; economic crises through the offices of the World Bank and IMF; security problems, as often as not, through the m...	[ "global house believes united nations has failed : Main purpose of UN, to prevent war, has clearly not been achieved. The UN was set up with the express purpose of preventing global wars, yet it has done absolutely nothing to prevent them. Indeed, the UN has often served merely as a forum for countries to abuse an...
Hosting is very expensive Hosting is very expensive. In recent times the Olympics have never made a direct profit. The bidding process alone for 2012 will cost each bidding city around £20m and whichever is selected will expect to pay at least £6.5bn (Paris). With increased security fears Athens spent $1.5bn on securi...	[ "y business finance government sport olympics house believes hosting olympics good The economic benefit of the event is in its legacy. Regarding London specifically, a lot of the money will be spent on the regeneration of parts of East London that are currently underdeveloped. When the games are over the new facili...	[ "This reduces the incentive for pharmaceutical companies to complete the testing process Testing new drugs is a very expensive process, in 2000 the average cost was estimated at around 86 million for the large scale phase III tests1 however this is contested and it could be much higher it represents 40% of pharmac...
Patent rights allow firms to more readily release their products and methods into the public domain, particularly through licensing Without patent protection, innovative and enterprising firms lacking the capacity to market successfully or efficiently produce new drugs might develop new drugs and never release them, s...	[ "disease health general house would allow production generic drugs If firms are afraid their formulae will be stolen, then they should keep them hidden. Otherwise, they should seek to make their new drug public, benefiting everyone so that the most people possible can have access to them. The release of ideas is mo...	[ "disease health general house would allow production generic drugs Production of generic drugs reduce medical costs by allowing increased production and the development of superior production methods, increasing market efficiency The sale of generic drugs invariably reduces costs to consumers. This is due to two r...
The geographical definition of Europe must be limited and does not include Turkey There is no obvious and widely accepted geographical definition of a frontier to Europe. Is Russia a European country? Are Georgia and Armenia? Are Cyprus and Malta? The fact that the Mediterranean country Italy became a member of a regi...	[ "americas europe global middle east politics politics general house would Turkey is not a European country - 95% of the nation’s landmass is on the wrong side of the Hellespont, in Asia. If Turkey is allowed into the European Union, not only would the institution’s very name become nonsensical, but it would be impo...	[ "americas europe global middle east politics politics general house would Turkey does not have a stable democracy. The military has intervened three times to remove governments of which it disapproved in recent decades, most recently in 1997 [1] . The nature of the struggle between Turkey's generals - who try and k...
Because religion promotes certainty of belief, divinely inspired hatred is easy to use to justify and promote violent actions and discriminatory practices. Free speech must come second when there is the potential for that speech to cause harm. The mantra of “With God on our side” has been used, and continues to be use...	[ "living difference house would penalise religious hate speech Nobody is being forced to perform acts of violence by the words of another; it is their choice to do so. Equally, there are plenty of people who would hold views that could be considered homophobic but would be appalled by acts of violence. It is fundame...	[ "Blasphemy a free expression Blasphemy cannot be shielded by the rationale which is used to defend freedom of speech. Blasphemy constitutes an attack on the religion it is targeted at. Beyond its ability to shock and offend, blasphemy exposes religious believers to ridicule, and perpetuates lies and falsehoods abo...
Any changes in advertising should come from businesses themselves rather than through banning. Banning requires a legal framework and enforcement mechanism. External organizations interfere with the ability of business to conduct business. Should the social cultural environment change, businesses are likely to respond...	[ "media modern culture television gender house would ban sexist advertising Even though some businesses have responded to public opinion, there are sufficient international commitments which address gender inequality in all societies. The Universal Declaration of Human rights and subsequent conventions have acknowle...	[ "media modern culture television gender house would ban sexist advertising Since advertising is pervasive in mediated messages, it has the power to influence social attitudes. Adverts occupy more public space than ever before in history. Due to technology, public space is global and ads can been seen around the wo...
The double burden Despite a feminising labour market there has been no convergence, or equalisation, in unpaid domestic and care work. Women still play key roles in working the reproductive sphere and family care; therefore labour-force participation increases the overall burden placed on women. The burden is placed o...	[ "economic policy international africa society gender house believes feminisation With the right to work within the productive sphere, the responsibility of care becomes shared. This may take some time but eventually equality will be the result. If you consider the changes occurring within the developed world - such...	[ "ment international africa society immigration minorities youth house would Who is left behind? In promoting a free labour market, we need to ask: who is left behind? To understand the developmental nature of migration investigation is needed into who doesn’t migrate - the non-migrant’s lifestyles raise key concer...
Collective bargaining is not a right Whilst the freedom of association exists under the state and it is true that people should be allowed to communicate with one another and form groups to forward their personal and political interests, it is not true that the freedom of association automatically grants access to the...	[ "mployment tax politics government house would abolish all collective bargaining Collective bargaining is considered a right because of the great benefit that it provides. Specifically, whilst freedom of association might not allow people to be privy to the negotiation process, when a large enough group of people f...	[ "mployment tax politics government house would abolish all collective bargaining The public sector being paid extra is something that is acceptable and necessary within society. Workers within the public sector often fulfill roles in jobs that are public goods. Such jobs provide a positive externality for the rest ...
Policing and financing the system is unmanageable If a large proportion of the population decided not to vote it would be impossible to make every non-voter pay the fine. For example, if just 10% of the UK voters failed to do so the government would have to chase up about £4 million in fines. Even if they sent demand ...	[ "y political philosophy politics government voting house would make voting Because mandatory voting means that no large campaign funds are needed to goad voters to the polls, the role of money in politics will decrease. Compulsory voting will reduce spending such as campaign spending on voter turnout. It can also l...	[ "y political philosophy politics government voting house would make voting It will cause more people to become interested in politics Compulsory voting increases the number of people who cast their vote 1. People who know they will have to vote will take politics more seriously and start to take a more active role...
Poor, uneducated people are lured into cities The cause of rural-urban migration in developing nations and the main reason why it becomes problematic is that people who move to the cities are not making informed decisions. They are led to believe that the cities contain opportunities that they cannot find where they l...	[ "economic policy society immigration house believes developing nations should The principle at the heart of this debate is that of the rights of the individual. While it might be true that a large group of people make uninformed decisions, a ban on any decisions in relation to where people live will keep the indivi...	[ "Protections would benefit the economies of receiving as well as source countries. Economic protections are not only good for the migrants themselves, but they benefit all countries involved. Migrants move from countries that have a lot of workers but not a lot work available, to countries with a lot of work avail...
Such reparations would do little to actually improve the developing countries. Reparations are an incredibly short-term economic measure. To have any substantial impact, long-term systems would need to be put in place to truly benefit such countries, and it would be far better to encourage sustainable growth [1] than ...	[ "africa global house believes former colonial powers should pay reparations It is entirely possible that reparations could be paid in smaller instalments over a much longer term as Germany has done [1] , thereby providing a longer-term solution rather than one lump sum. Furthermore, it is likely that if former colo...	[ "africa global house believes former colonial powers should pay reparations Most of the Western world is currently undergoing a financial crisis [1] . However prosperous these former colonies might have been, in the modern world they simply do not have the money to provide reparations to these countries on any scal...
Witnesses might be identified and placed in danger Televising criminal trials may cause a number of problems with witnesses. It may make individuals less likely to give evidence, make them more likely to play to the television audience, or make the already intimidating process of giving evidence in court more so. Also...	[ "ure media television law international law house opposes televising all criminal Giving evidence is a traumatic experience, TV coverage or otherwise. TV broadcasts can already have measures brought in to protect witnesses – for instance it could be agreed that they are not directly filmed. Anonymized witnesses at ...	[ "Even if Kenya’s recent reforms were motivated by the ICC’s indictments, the 2013 elections were still marked by violence which “as of February 2013, had claimed more than 477 lives and displaced another 118,000 people.” [1] Despite many African governments’ initial enthusiasm for the ICC, the African Union has si...
Turkey has precedents, such as Romania and Bulgaria, both of whom were accepted into the EU Romania and Bulgaria, who have by far the worst human rights’ records, were prioritized over Turkey when they were granted the right of accession, joining the EU in 2007. The EU rewarded states that have made a big effort to de...	[ "americas europe global middle east politics politics general house would There are big differences between Romania and Bulgaria and Turkey; this is caused by the political situation regarding Turkey’s support for North Cyprus. Cyprus is a member of the European Union having joined in 2005 and would be likely to bl...	[ "americas europe global middle east politics politics general house would The geographical definition of Europe must be limited and does not include Turkey There is no obvious and widely accepted geographical definition of a frontier to Europe. Is Russia a European country? Are Georgia and Armenia? Are Cyprus and ...
It would be easier to protect the rights of religious minorities within a united Ireland Unrest in Northern Ireland was started by the appalling treatment of the Catholic minority there. When there was a Northern Ireland Parliament there was some gerrymandering, while the discrimination in representation was slight ve...	[ "europe politics government local government house believes northern ireland There is no evidence that the Catholic population today suffers a bias in the current political system, except for that which they make for themselves. As of 2010 the Catholic representation in the House of Commons is 5 Sinn Fein and 3 SDL...	[ "europe politics government local government house believes northern ireland The majority of the inhabitants of Northern Ireland do not support unification The Good Friday agreement affirmed “That if, in the future, the people of the island of Ireland exercise their right of self-determination … to bring about a u...
The most vulnerable children would be left behind by the scheme Even if a voucher scheme is used, parents still need to have considerable input in order that their children are able to access the best educational opportunities. Thus, those children who are most vulnerable, i.e. those with inadequate home support struc...	[ "x education education general secondary house would fund education using It is currently the case that some children, with unfortunate home circumstances, don’t get optimal educational provision as a result of their parents’ failure. However, there are many parents who are able to make good decisions on behalf of ...	[ "Home-schooling is not the best option for exceptional students. The state does not ignore or abandon individuals that have special needs and those with special needs are those that most need the state's enormous resources to focus on their requirements. Once a student has needs of such a magnitude that demands it,...
Collective bargaining undermines the democractic process The bargain between normal unions and private enterprise involves all parties being brought to the table and talking about the issues that they might have. However, the public sector represents the benefits of taxpayers, the politicians and the unions. The power...	[ "mployment tax politics government house would abolish all collective bargaining Collective bargaining might hurt the democratic process due to its political nature, but the alternative is worse. Without collective bargaining it is incredibly difficult for public sector workers to get across their ideas of what the...	[ "mployment tax politics government house would abolish all collective bargaining The opposition argument here is simply a case against natural monopolies. In many Western Liberal democracies, advances in technology have enabled natural monopolies on telecoms and public transport to be broken down. A wide range of n...
Rejecting the Ban on Cluster Bombs Hurts the international image of the U.S. The U.S. is one of the only remaining Western Liberal democracies to allow the U.S. of cluster bombs. The continued refusal of the U.S. to tow the same line as fellow liberal democracies makes it look bad internationally; especially consideri...	[ "national law politics defence warpeace house believes us should ban use cluster The U.S. is currently developing cluster bomb technology that will prevent cluster bombs from remaining armed over a long period of time. Given that the U.S. is a pioneer in this area, it knows more about the development of the technol...	[ "national law politics defence warpeace house believes us should ban use cluster This House Believes That the U.S. Should Ban The Use of Cluster Bombs Currently the U.S. is working on improving the reliability of cluster bombs. The weakness of cluster bombs, being that the bomblets often do not explode is somethin...
Affirmative action perpetuates prejudice Affirmative action causes prejudice against minorities in society. The existence of affirmative action creates a de-facto assumption that anyone of that particular minority must have gotten where they are not on their own merit, but simply because they are that particular mino...	[ "ucation secondary university philosophy religion minorities house believes use This resentment already exists in society, and as explained in counterargument two, in many specific environments, affirmative action is its own cure. On a wider societal level, this prejudice will not be created by affirmative action,...	[ "ucation secondary university philosophy religion minorities house believes use Meritocracy is the only fair system by which society should be ordered Any system that does not reward individuals on the basis of their merit is one that is unjust to those not in the group that is “preferred” and therefore benefitted...
A Practical Solution There are many mechanisms by which this policy could be implemented. The one common thread is that those hoping to receive organs would be divided into those registered as donors, and those who are non-donors. Potential recipients who are non-donors would only receive an organ if all requests by d...	[ "healthcare deny organs non donors The controversial part of this plan is how the status of “donor” is determined. Each standard that could be used has massive, and sometimes monstrous, negative ramifications. If the requirement is that recipients be donors for a certain number of years beforehand, then people who ...	[ "healthcare deny organs non donors The government already makes life or death decisions as to who receives organs; at the end of the day, the organ scarcity means someone has to go without them. The state, in administrating organ donor lists, must decide on some basis who receives organs. The choice is whether they...
A school breakfast for all is a greater cost on schools Everything costs. Providing free school to all breakfasts will cost the government money for ingredients, cafeteria staff, administration, even possibly new facilities. In the USA the Breakfast Program costs $3.3 billion to provide free or reduced price breakfast...	[ "primary secondary health health general house would provide breakfast all 0 The upfront cost will be paid back. In the future there will be less health care costs. And there will be a more highly educated and skilled population which will mean more economic growth and tax for the government." ]	[ "Receiving countries should not and cannot afford to further protect migrants because they often free ride on health, education, and welfare systems. Because immigrants are frequently less well off financially, and they sometimes come to a new country illegally, they cost a lot for receiving countries, and so they...
Any body of values that claims to respect the rights of the individual must recognise the right of a woman to choose Even the doctrines of the Church accepts that pregnancy is not, in and of itself, a virtue – there is no compulsion to maximise the number of pregnancies; there is simply a disagreement about how they s...	[ "church marriage religions society gender family house believes reproductive It is difficult to see how the life of anyone is improved by reducing sex to a cheap form of entertainment. Certainly not the unborn children and not the objectified women. Proposition is more than happy for women to take control of their ...	[ "There can be medical reasons for terminating a pregnancy There are cases in which it is necessary to terminate a pregnancy, lest the mother and/or the child die. In such cases of medical emergency and in the interest of saving life, surely it is permissible to abort the fetus. Also, due to advances in medical te...
Mayors will come at a cost Having Mayors is costly. First of all there is the referendum and the election of the Mayor himself which Bristol council has said could cost up to £400,000. [1] This is then followed by the extra administrative cost created by having a Mayor who will of course have to have deputies, staff, ...	[ "local government house would directly elect city mayors While there may be some extra costs to having a mayor this is likely to be marginal and overall costs may well fall, as Prime Minister Cameron argues “if you end up with a mayor, you’ll actually save money, because mayors can bang heads together, get rid of b...	[ "local government house would directly elect city mayors Mayors could split economic regions The value of a mayor is dependent upon that mayor having a distinct area of control. However often this area is set too small. Cities are the hubs for neighbouring towns and countryside as well as the inner city. This coul...
Prohibition is counterproductive As tempting as it is to feel that banning is the solution to problems, it doesn’t work. Almost all states prohibits certain drugs, but that does not stop them being used. [1] Despite being banned in Ghana, skin whitening creams are still openly advertised on billboards [2] . Counterfe...	[ "media modern culture international africa house believes african nations should Obviously, not every policy is 100% effective. However, a ban on products that is well created and adequately enforced could at least reject a material from the mainstream, and signals disapproval. Not everyone will follow a ban but ma...	[ "media modern culture international africa house believes african nations should Banning skin whitening on such a basis also requires the acceptance of the racial overtones. Some form of tan is popular in many societies of people of European ethnic origins – that is not a racial matter, it is more based on economic...
Coca chewing is harmful and should be proscribed The original decision to ban coca chewing was based on evidence that this was indeed harmful to human health. A 1950 report elaborated by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Coca Leaf with a mandate from ECOSOC states that: "We believe that the daily, inveterate use of ...	[ "th health general global law crime policing law general punishment house would The burden of evidence lies on the side trying to prove its harm, not on the side asserting that it is not harmful, and so the lack of categorical proof of its harm is in itself an argument for legalizing its cultivation and chewing. If...	[ "Trans fats are uniquely unhealthy One of the purposes of government is identify possible threats to health and protect the people from these threats. The fact that some government regulations seem 'silly' or misplaced, or cannot easily be understood by lay-people is not a compelling argument for having no regulat...
You cannot own an idea, and thus cannot hold patents, especially to vital drugs An individual's idea, so long as it rests solely in his mind or is kept safely hidden, belongs to him. When he disseminates it to everyone and makes it public, it becomes part of the public domain, and belongs to anyone who can use it. If ...	[ "disease health general house would allow production generic drugs Ideas can be owned, to a certain extent. The creative effort involved in the production of a drug formula is every bit as great as the building of a new chair or other tangible asset. Nothing special separates them and law must reflect that. It is a...	[ "aw society family house would allow patenting genes Genes are intellectual property thus patentable The patenting office stipulates that a successful patent applicant must have found something in nature, isolated it, and found a way to make something useful with it.The genome research of companies satisfies these...
CAP protects the quality of the food in EU The role of CAP is to produce food at affordable prices while maintaining its quality. By having policies which favour agriculture in Europe it is easier to control the quality of the food, maintain it and also support the diversity of the food produced in EU. [1] The goods i...	[ "business economic policy international europe house believes eu should abandon The standards of quality can and are checked for imports. Only food, produced without potentially harmful agents and in a certain way, can be sold on European market. The fact that food was not produced in EU does not mean that food is ...	[ "business economic policy international europe house believes eu should abandon It is unfair to new members of EU Not only are the largest recipients of CAP western countries – France, Spain and Germany - also the payments per hectare of arable lands differ significantly between new and old members of EU. The new ...
Annexation is not needed where there is already extensive cooperation between the countries Lesotho and South Africa already cooperate on a wide variety of issues. If we look at the example of the law system; the two systems are almost the same and all but one of the Justices on the Court of Appeal in Lesotho are Sout...	[ "africa politics politics general house believes lesotho should be annexed Assuming the two countries are so well integrated, there should be no reason for not taking the last step that is the annexation of the territory. Furthermore, the current sovereignty of the Kingdom of Lesotho exists as a fiction rather than...	[ "The current UNSC Membership is outdated The composition of the council is outdated and must adapt to a much-changed world in the 21st century. It is clear that there is growing discontent among African countries regarding the current structure of the UNSC. “We don’t understand why you have three countries out of...
Pornography liberates women Pornography is massively produced and distributed: this provides women with a vast platform through which to define their sexual identity. This has been a great tool in the past: in the 1920’s America, the flapper became a great role model for women by promoting revolutionary values of a st...	[ "media modern culture pornography society gender family house believes feminist It is simplistic to assume that the problems women face now, are the same that they faced in the 1920’s. All they have in common is that, in some sense, women are used for men’s ends. In the 1920’s it was primarily as housewives, but no...	[ "media modern culture pornography society gender family house believes feminist Even if achieving a fully effective ban is impossible, it is the responsibility of the feminist movement to take a stance and not condone practices that harm women in practice and promote dangerous messages. Making it illegal will limit...
The ICC fails to prevent atrocities. The ICC will not deter the commission of war crimes or genocide. The Third Reich augmented the crimes of the Holocaust when it became clear that the Allies would defeat them in Europe. The only expectation of the Nazi leadership was immediate execution, rather than trial in a judic...	[ "human rights international law politics government warpeace house would recognise It is ludicrous to claim that the ICC will fail to deter atrocities when such an international institution has never before existed. Moreover, the ICC is not designed to be a prophylactic ; for the victims of these terrible crimes it...	[ "americas middle east house believes us and israel should join international It took nearly two years for the ICC to launch an investigation into atrocities in the Central African Republic. This has helped defeat the argument that it would be faster than the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
Exposing non-smokers to second-hand smoke goes against their rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (a list of rights to which the United Nations has declared that all human beings should be entitled) states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himse...	[ "business health addiction house would ban smoking public spaces It is very difficult to properly scientifically measure the risk for non-smokers of being exposed to second-hand smoke. To do a proper experiment, scientists would need to find a large group of people who had never been exposed to cigarette smoke befo...	[ "business health addiction house would ban smoking public spaces While some studies have shown that numbers of smokers in countries in which a smoking ban has been introduced have fallen, it seems that these results only represent those people who were trying to quit smoking anyway, with the smoking ban acting as a...
The cost is too high The Grand Inga is ‘pie in the sky’ as the cost is too immense. At more than $50-100 billion it is more than twice the GDP of the whole country. [1] Even the much smaller Inga III project has been plagued by funding problems with Westcor pulling out of the project in 2009. [2] This much smaller pro...	[ "omic policy environment climate energy water international africa house would The difficulty of constructing something should not be considered a good argument not to do it. As one of the poorest countries in the world construction will surely have significant support from developed donors and international instit...	[ "economy general international africa house believes women are key africas Africa's greatest needs are for infrastructure and education Africa’s greatest needs for development are infrastructure and education. Neither of these needs implies that women are about to become key to the African economy. Africa is seve...
The present system of earmarking in Congress is wide open to abuse. The party leaderships in each house can use the offer of pork, or the threat to withhold it to enforce party discipline. “Logrolling” occurs whereby an earmark is obtained in return for support on an unrelated piece of legislation. All this leads to le...	[ "onal americas politics government house wants line item veto amendment There are other means by which cutting earmarks could be achieved, without the drastic step of mutilating the work of the Founding Fathers. For a start, Congress could just ban the use of earmarks, unfortunately an attempt in 2010 was defeated ...	[ "onal americas politics government house wants line item veto amendment Has made little difference in the past The precedent of the Line Item Veto Act under President Clinton should warn against a constitutional amendment. The sums saved were laughably small, $355 million, in the context of the entire federal budg...
How Congress Works Congress is a bicameral body, with its constituent parts, the House of Representatives and Senate, working largely independent of each other to create bills. However necessary for both the house and Senate to pass laws in identical form in order for it to become law. [1] A period of ‘Reconciliation’...	[ "government house believes governance united states should be split between two Congress maybe a bicameral body, but it still needs to be able to work effectively and having control split between the parties is not conducive to this. Reconciliation only truly works when there is a clear and coherent ideological pro...	[ "government house believes governance united states should be split between two Existing checks and balances Proposition have made out so far that single-party Government has few checks upon it, allowing for overbearing ideological government. This however is not true as there a many external checks upon a single-...
Risk of a two-tier Internet As things stand there are relatively flat rate services. The concern is that ISP would charge higher rates for full Internet access or act to ensure that their own content arrived seamlessly and smoothly, while that of competitors was delayed or poorer quality or that higher bandwidth appli...	[ "e internet freedom digital freedoms access information house supports This has absolutely nothing to do with censorship – not having net neutrality will not stop users accessing certain sites, just make it slower. Data from some points of origin, especially games and file-sharing programmes slow down the entire ne...	[ "education general teaching university science computers phones internet house Online courses encourage sharing of academic information One of the technical features of MOOCs is that content of courses can easily be shared between universities and learners (as content is freely downloadable). This is useful in two...
Tens of thousands of licence fee payers objected to this, ultimately they are the BBC’s key stakeholder and that view is worthy of respect. As an institution, the BBC may like to position itself as a global media brand but that doesn’t alter the fact that it is funded by, and chartered to serve, the British population...	[ "nothing sacred house believes bbc should be free blaspheme In the same way that the BBC is routinely criticised from the political Right for its Left-wing bias and from the Left for a supposed favouritism to the Right, maintaining balance in any sphere of life is difficult. Freedom of speech demands that such a ba...	[ "Flag burning does not serve as an effective method of conveying a message, since it is always met only with outrage and sometimes even violent public unrest It is highly questionable whether burning a flag can be considered a speech or expressive act at all. It seems to offer up no new concepts or true opinions t...
Consequences of increased GHGs Increased GHGs in the atmosphere have numerous significant consequences: -glaciers, ice sheets, and perma frost will continue to melt. This will increase water levels, release more GHGs (methane, which is twenty times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2 and CO2), and reflect less...	[ "climate house believes were too late global climate change These consequences are often speculation. With such a large and complex system we have no way of knowing what the consequences of climate change. There may well be some tipping points that will accelerate climate change but we do not know when each of thes...	[ "Nuclear energy goes against Green World In order not to harm environment, not to cause climate changes, renewable power plants (wind, water, solar) should be used. However, these do not work together with nuclear power plants. Nuclear plants – giant very hot machines – are designed to operate at full speed (85%) ...
The right of self-defence must be exercised in accordance with international law. There can be no right to such terribly destructive weapons; their invention is one of the great tragedies of history, giving humanity the power to destroy itself. Even during the Cold War, most people viewed nuclear weapons at best as a ...	[ "defence house believes all nations have right nuclear weapons All parties recognize the risk of their total destruction as a result of starting a nuclear conflict. This is exactly why no full scale war has broken out between nuclear powers. Supposing that states will be unable to handle the responsibility of nucle...	[ "defence house believes all nations have right nuclear weapons Possessing nuclear weapons will do little to help small and poor nations set the agendas on the international stage. In the present age, economic power is far more significant in international and diplomatic discourse than is military power, particularl...
The confession of religious faith is far more important than the rather petty rules that banned the wearing of the cross. People of faith attest that those beliefs determine the nature of their own identity and their place in the Universe. In the case of Nadia Eweida, at least, the employer’s case was based on the ide...	[ "nothing sacred house believes christians should be allowed wear cross Virtually every employee dresses differently for work than they do outside. We accept the fact that there are behaviours and attitudes that must be left at the door when we enter the workplace. Those unwilling to make such an accommodation simpl...	[ "nothing sacred house believes christians should be allowed wear cross Legislation takes account of particularities. Christianity does not, and never has, required the wearing of the cross as a demonstration of faith and few representations are found before the fifth century [i] – indeed in early Church history it ...
The very payment of reparations exerts a neo-colonial power over former colonies. The recognition that many former colonies are in desperate economic need only adds to the sense that former colonial powers desire to hold sway over them. Giving reparations induces dependency and can weaken the appearance of government ...	[ "africa global house believes former colonial powers should pay reparations There is a fundamental difference here between colonisation and the modern day; whereas colonial powers were formerly damaging infrastructure [1] and natural resources [2] , in the modern day under reparations they would be helping to prese...	[ "africa global house believes former colonial powers should pay reparations Reparations would be a step towards closing colonial scars. It is difficult for former colonies to feel as if they can move on and develop a wholly independent identity when their ties to the past, and to their former colonisers, have not ...
Allows the ruler to make necessary but unpopular decisions Democracy and elections are about popularity but popular decisions are not always the right ones. Even mature democracies have sometimes seen their government’s make use of the levers of government to boost their electoral chances; for example Margaret Thatche...	[ "government voting house would have no elections rather sham elections There is little evidence that countries without elections are more willing to take difficult decisions, or able to take wise decisions, than those that face some form of election. Many petro states have failed to diversify their economies despit...	[ "PR leads to weaker government. Typically under PR, no one party gains a majority of the popular vote, so coalition governments have to be formed often between four or more parties. This tends to produce unstable governments, changing as parties leave or join the governing coalition, and frequent elections. Govern...
A UN standing army would be more effective in operations themselves. A UN standing army would be more effective than the variety of troops staffing missions under the current system. At present most UN operations are supplied by developing nations who hope to make a profit from the payments they receive for their serv...	[ "global politics defence warpeace house would create un standing army A UN standing army would still have the same drawbacks as the current model. Differences in language, culture, etc. will seriously mar operational effectiveness, especially in combat situations, irrespective of whether they have been trained toge...	[ "global politics defence warpeace house would create un standing army A UN standing army would be cost effective. It would bring benefits to the world economy, and therefore offset its own expense, through avoiding the protracted costs of refugee crises and other humanitarian disasters. These costs are both direct ...
State control of acceptance/curriculum criteria has negative effects When the state has control of the purse strings, it wields a great deal of power over universities. In the case of Ireland, for example, the government has so much influence over higher education that it altered the governing structures of the major ...	[ "university government house believes university education should be free Publicly funded universities in practice do not become parrots of the state’s agenda; far from it, in fact. Often it is public institutions that are the most outspoken against government activities. The University of California, Berkeley, for...	[ "university government house believes university education should be free Countries need educated people, including a certain amount of university graduates, but the idea proposed, that everyone having a degree would benefit society economically, is unfounded. There is no economic benefit when people with degrees a...
The third run-way would cause noise and pollution problems The high population density of the area around Heathrow means it is not an ideal location for a bigger airport. It makes sense to increase capacity in an area with lower population density instead of trying to do so within a location that is constrained by adj...	[ "economy general environment climate environment general pollution house would An additional run-way would not necessarily result in a large increase in noise pollution as this would depend on where the runways are located. If the runway was established to the West of its current location incoming planes would cros...	[ "economy general environment climate environment general pollution house would Heathrow is in the best location for London Flying is critical for business. Heathrow is well located for the people that will pick up the bill funding its expansion. People need to be able to get to their homes and work easily from the...
Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites. In recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psy...	[ "censorship ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and...	[ "The scheme does not prevent forgery or identity theft The entire premise of national security and crime prevention falls when biometric identity cards are in fact incredibly easy to falsify. Microchips have already been forged in a matter of minutes in an experiment to determine their security [1] , and biometric...
The scientific community as a whole overwhelmingly rejects Creationism. 95% of all scientists accept evolution, and only a fraction of those that do not accept Creationism. [1] The numbers are even smaller among biologists, the people most qualified to discuss the relative merits of Creationism and evolution, as the s...	[ "primary secondary teaching religion god science evolution house would teach The scientific community was once convinced the world was flat. It was also once sure that women's brains were smaller than those of men. The scientific community \"knows\" lots of things only to be proved wrong. The scientific elitist est...	[ "primary secondary teaching religion god science evolution house would teach There is no empirical evidence supporting Creationism, whereas all evidence supports abiogenesis and evolution. Creationists have never once offered a positive evidence for their claims. When challenged, they respond with vitriolic, and o...
Neo-functionalism - liberal theory of regional integration Neo-functionalism is an example of a liberal theory of regional integration. Its focus is on human welfare needs, not political conflict and law. Its focus is on individuals aggregated into interest groups as the main actors in integration, so the focus is on ...	[ "nomic policy economy general international europe philosophy political Intergovernmentalism assumes states to be the core actors, this is difficult to deny as most economic boundaries and policies are administered by the nation state. It believes that the logic of diversity will prevail in areas of high politics (...	[ "nomic policy economy general international europe philosophy political Supranational Entrepreneurs played a crucial role in integration The role of supranational entrepreneurs within the development of integration within Europe has been crucial. Characters such as Jean Monnet envisaged and worked continuously tow...
This is not the role of the criminal law Criminal legislation is not the vehicle for society’s pronouncements on questions of how one should live one’s life. It instead involves the entirely practical exercise of ensuring that individuals are able to live freely and enjoy their freedom without fear of external interfe...	[ "law general philosophy life house believes suicide should be criminal offence The law and is to protect the state and the people from each other and to help guide people into making the right decisions for the whole of society. The important thing is that society should make a stand for what it believes is right a...	[ "The right to privacy counterbalances the state's obligation to ban sadomasochistic sex y the proposition, those who want to engage in violent sexual activities will do so, irrespective of laws to the contrary. Without undermining core liberal concepts of privacy and freedom of association, the state will be unabl...
Most universities are publically funded so should have to be open with their materials. The United States University system is famously expensive and as a result it is probably the system in a developed country that has least public funding yet $346.8billion was spent, mostly by the states, on higher education in 2008...	[ "university digital freedoms access knowledge universities should make all Public funding does not mean that everything should be free and open to use by the public. We do not expect to be allowed to use buildings that are built as government offices as if they were our own. The government builds large amounts of i...	[ "ployment tax education university house would fund provision higher education In the long term a graduate tax would save the state money by shifting the burden of costs to the main beneficiaries of higher education. It would also help to make the costs of expanding access to higher education more predictable and c...
Prosecutions are needed for victims Prosecutions are the only way for victims to see those who caused pain against them brought to justice. The alternative of some kind of reconciliation often leaves those who perpetrated crimes able to retain power as has happened in countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia an...	[ "africa global law human rights international law house believes Victims are often no better off by seeking prosecutions, especially because prosecutions are often hard to make stick in the first place. But moreover, the process often involves victims having to relive their story while being cross examined, which f...	[ "The right to privacy counterbalances the state's obligation to ban sadomasochistic sex y the proposition, those who want to engage in violent sexual activities will do so, irrespective of laws to the contrary. Without undermining core liberal concepts of privacy and freedom of association, the state will be unabl...
Kenya needs the trial now Without justice, there cannot be peace. Following the total failure of the Kenyan justice system to take action, exemplified by the Parliament’s complete and utter rejection of the Waki Commission, the ICC, which Kenya voluntarily signed up to, has to step in. Ethnic violence still goes on i...	[ "rnational africa law human rights international law government leadership voting Kenya doesn’t need a trial. The Kenyan parliament voted against such a thing – the Kenyan people decided in 2013 that they want to give Kenyatta and Ruto a democratic mandate. While there is a terror threat – something that Kenyatta ...	[ "Justice needs to be seen to be done in order to provide a deterrent to others. An accepted tenet of most justice systems is the achievement of deterrence. Without the prosecution of war crime, its perpetrators have to consider no tangible cost to their actions. This applies to those who claim to have “just follow...
Religions have no true claim to special moral knowledge Religions through the ages, and still today, have been agents of repression, sexism, elitism, homophobia, and - most of all - conflict, war, and racial hatred. The very nature of belief in received wisdom means that it must be, at its core, a conservative and reg...	[ "faith religion general house believes belief god irrational Religion may have been the occasion for various social and political wrongs, but it is not the cause. You can be quite sure that if you took away all the world’s religions people would still identify themselves with national and political groups and go to...	[ "y epistemology religion church faith religion general god morality secularism In reality there are only two theological positions, atheism and theism; agnosticism is nothing but timid atheism: God, like unicorns, has never been shown to exist, and thus it is logical to accept that He, just like unicorns, does not...
The Null Hypothesis With regards to any proposition the only consistent and rational view is to assume that it is not true unless sufficient evidence is put forward to nullify that assumption. The proposition need also be falsifiable, that is to say, there must be some potential fact that could be proven in order to ...	[ "faith religion general house believes belief god irrational All beliefs rely upon some form of presupposition as their grounding. The null hypothesis presupposes a natural world – but belief in God presupposes a supernatural world. It is unfair therefore to apply the null hypothesis to religious faith. Moreover, ...	[ "primary secondary teaching religion god science evolution house would teach Creationism is a legitimate scientific endeavor. Researchers struck by the apparent design in organisms look for evidence of that design. There is nothing pseudoscientific in that. There are many issues that evolution cannot explain, but w...
Africa's greatest needs are for infrastructure and education Africa’s greatest needs for development are infrastructure and education. Neither of these needs implies that women are about to become key to the African economy. Africa is severely deficient in infrastructure; Sub Saharan Africa generates the same amount ...	[ "economy general international africa house believes women are key africas Neither education not infrastructure can discount the possibility of women being key to the economic future. Yes infrastructure is needed before many businesses can reach their full potential. But the same limits are on men and women. The la...	[ "economy general international africa house believes women are key africas Women provide a platform for economic development Where women in Africa are treated more as equals and are being given political power there are benefits for the economy. Africa is already surging economically with 6 out of the world’s ten ...
PRC is clearly the China that matters The Chinese civil war is over, and it is clear that it is the People’s Republic that has won. The 1992 consensus (though the term was coined later) between Taiwan and the PRC is that there is “one China, Different Interpretations” about who controls that China. [1] If there is onl...	[ "africa asia house would sao tome drop relations taiwan favour mainland The PRC may be much more powerful, more populous, and bigger, but that does not mean that it is the legitimate government of China. The decision to recognise other countries is a matter for each government and should be based on their perceptio...	[ "africa asia house would sao tome drop relations taiwan favour mainland Should not ignore the will of 1.3billion A small African country should not ignore one sixth of the world’s population. To recognise a tiny country of 23million over one of 1.3billion is being unjust to a huge portion of humanity. When there i...
This ban would encourage smokers to smoke less or give up smoking altogether. Not being able to smoke in public will make it more difficult for smokers to keep up with their habit. For example, if they are no longer able to smoke in the pub, smokers would have to go outside – possibly in the rain or other uncomfortabl...	[ "business health addiction house would ban smoking public spaces While some studies have shown that numbers of smokers in countries in which a smoking ban has been introduced have fallen, it seems that these results only represent those people who were trying to quit smoking anyway, with the smoking ban acting as a...	[ "business health addiction house would ban smoking public spaces This ban would lower healthcare costs. The health problems that smokers experience cost taxpayers (where healthcare is provided by the government) or the individual (for private healthcare) a lot of money. Decreasing the number of smokers – as a resu...
Terrorism creates a negative abusable portrayal Acts of terror will not lead to a deeper mutual understanding, but to alienation from the international community. People see acts of violence as a threat, and especially in the context of international terrorists attacks, the fear of escalation prevails. Even more, acts...	[ "political philosophy politics terrorism house believes terrorism can be Terrorism can bring attention to certain causes and bring discussion. Images of violence will make much more of an impact than those of peaceful protest. With the modern media, the power of oppressive states to hide or twist the truth has sign...	[ "Profiling will increase terrorism not combat it: Profiling alienates groups needed in the fight against terrorism. Treating all Muslims as suspects, or being perceived as such, undermines efforts to gain intelligence on terrorists. Profiling the very communities we need information from to catch terrorists would ...
The right to life means a right to death When we speak of the right to life it means more than merely the right to be alive, it encompasses the right to self-ownership, the notion that one’s life is one’s own and that you are not beholden to anyone else by the mere fact that you are alive. It follows from this that th...	[ "law general philosophy life house believes suicide should be criminal offence The right to life is a positive protection against the state extinguishing that right and is limited largely to that context. A person can no more choose to give up their right to life than they can choose to give up their right to freed...	[ "Purpose of the state We as individuals created the state in order to protect and improve our lives. We gave it the burden of improving our lives from multiple points of view, economically, socially, environmentally, etc. But before these, in order for one to benefit from this advantages that the state brings, he ...
Artists should retain the right to control their work’s interaction with the public space even if their work is publicly funded Art is the expression of its creator’s sense of understanding of the world, and thus that expression will always have special meaning to him or her that no amount of reinterpretation or exter...	[ "arts science censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Upon entering the public arena works of art take on characters of their own, often far different than their original creators did, or could have, imagined. The art is consumed, absorbed, and reimagined and takes on its own identity tha...	[ "arts science censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The default of total copyright is harmful to the spreading of information and experience Current copyright law assigns too many rights, automatically, to the creator. Law gives the generator of a work full copyright protection that is...
Israel has the right to claim minimal territory to ensure security Israel has been the victim of multiple major illegal wars of aggression on the part of the Arab world, most notably in 1948 and 1967. These wars invalidate any special claim made by Arabs and Palestinians to pre-1967 territory, and justify Israel in ke...	[ "global middle east house believes israel should return its pre 1967 borders Israel won the 1967 war, demonstrating that despite a major coordinated Arab attack on Israel, it could defend its pre-1967 borders adequately. [1] This puts the lie to the central argument that the pre-1967 borders are indefensible. They ...	[ "Without the peace plan there will be further conflict. Kofi Annan believes that peace can only be found together arguing all members of the Security Council \"Either unite to secure your common interests, or divide and surely fail in your own individual way. Without your unity… nobody can win and everyone will lo...
The imposition of democracy violates national sovereignty Countries have a right to choose the form of government they want, and we do not have the right to violate this right by imposing the form of government we think is best. Nations may want to be ruled by, for example, religious or tribal law, or a Communist syst...	[ "y political philosophy politics defence government house would impose democracy It is wrong to suggest that the rule of law, or protection of civil rights, is less important in different regions. The fact is that democracy is the only form of government which respects every individual's right to political self det...	[ "global middle east house would arm syrian rebels Sovereignty and non intervention in internal affairs It is a clear international rule that nations are sovereign and other states are simply not allowed to be making interventions into another country’s domestic affairs. The UN Charter emphasises “Nothing contained...
Attempting to impose democracy may escalate conflict. Intervening in a country, and attempting to impose a different government, is likely to a) result in backlash and b) destabilize the country by destroying infrastructure and disrupting services. Both these things make it far more likely that violent conflict will e...	[ "y political philosophy politics defence government house would impose democracy Governments can take actions to help reduce conflict. Most people agree that the strategy behind the Iraq War was extremely weak. Furthermore, it was clear that the American government had ulterior motives and that establishing democra...	[ "Factionalism is too strong Since the 1970s, Arab state governments have become especially corrupt and oppressive, and have failed to provide essential social services on a consistent basis. Over the past forty years, people in the region have had to become increasingly reliant on informal networks and institution...
The New START treaty maintains US nuclear and missile defence. The US’ Nuclear armament will be modernized along with New START. “The Obama administration has agreed to provide for modernization of the infrastructure essential to maintaining our nuclear arsenal. Funding these efforts has become part of the negotiation...	[ "global law international law politics defence warpeace house supports new New START will cause American missile and nuclear capabilities to atrophy, not to be maintained. This is because it locks the US in to agreements of defensive reductions which are tied into Russian offensive reductions. This could eventually...	[ "Further expansion of NATO will antagonise Russia Russia considers NATO expansion to be very antagonistic towards it. Continued NATO expansion would only serve to manufacture the expansionist demon that NATO fears. The election of the ultranationalist Duma in 1996, the choice of the hardliner Yvegeny Primakov as f...
We cannot make any judgments about whose life is valuable and whose is not It is impossible to know what any of the people involved in the situation will do with their life. One might be a serial killer while another might be a life-saving doctor. By attempting to use some sort of calculation in the scenario we are pr...	[ "ethics life kill one save many junior Given that we don’t know anything about these individuals all we have to work with are the numbers. If you take five random people and one random person then there is a greater chance that among the five people there is a life saving doctor. The only time this is not true is i...	[ "ethics life kill one save many junior People suffer unfortunate deaths on a daily basis. The fact that people die in accidents does not necessarily mean that their right to life has been violated. Therefore, if one lets the train run its course five people will suffer an unfortunate accident. The real violation of...
The Settlements commit future Israeli governments to a harder stand in future negotiations Whether deliberate or not, the settlements are changing the “facts on the ground” by changing the political calculus for future Israeli governments. While most Israeli politicians accept the need to abandon some smaller settlem...	[ "rnational middle east law human rights international law house believes israels west First, it is unclear if this is even true. A 2010 poll showed support for dismantling settlements in exchange for Peace at an all-time high in Israel. [1] Secondly, even if it is true that settlements complicate the internal Isra...	[ "An attempt to build up international support reinforces Israeli fears of a Palestinian state being used as a platform for attacks against them Among Israel’s prime security concerns about a prospective Palestinian state is that it might become a base for Israel’s other enemies to attack it. Israel is particularl...
Seeing a politician put on trial hurts the integrity of their office. It does tremendous damage to the public perception of a given political position to see the holder of that position on trial for criminal acts. Politicians are important role models for the populace at large, and shining light on everyone one of the...	[ "eneral punishment politics government house would grant politicians immunity If we don’t want politicians hurting the dignity of the office, there is only one thing we can do: not elect politicians likely to commit crimes! Of course, this is often impossible to tell in advance, but the dilemma remains: a crime has...	[ "The position of civil society plays a key role in reducing corruption. Its action in taking a moral stand against corrupted officials is an important precondition for effective anticorruption policy. Hence, citizens who put up with the necessity to give a bribe become a part of the problem. It is not just the case...
It doesn’t serve its purpose (subsidies to larger farmers) The CAP as originally proposed was aimed to support small, local, family farmers which have difficulties with sustaining their business in competitive environment. The conference in Stresa in 1958 that helped define CAP’s objectives stated “Given the importanc...	[ "business economic policy international europe house believes eu should abandon Even the larger companies can have difficulties in a market in which their consumers, the supermarkets, have so much power over prices. The result is often that supermarkets buy their produce at below the cost of production – as is happ...	[ "Cap and Trade will Harm Energy Consumers Carbon trading would harm smaller and start-up business to a significant extent. It is easier for wealthy companies to reduce their carbon consumption as they have a greater level of wealth and thus a greater ability to do so. As such under a market mechanism they would ha...
Unruly defendants can play up to the cameras Televising the trial can create extra incentives for defendants to attempt to disrupt the process. During his trial, Saddam Hussein regularly made outbursts and went on political rants – based on Iraqi law, he was able to examine witnesses after his lawyer. This was not new...	[ "ure media television law international law house opposes televising all criminal The Hussein trial identified the solution to problematic rants disrupting the trial - the TV feed cut to the judge and faded out Hussein’s sound [1] . This is part of the reason why the ICC broadcasts are on a 30 minute delay, on web ...	[ "law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases Putting this kind of pressure on the judiciary and lawyers does not have the same kinds of benefits that it might in the House of Commons. Politicians often focus on, and are expected to uphold, the general interest of the public, which is why h...

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