The Latest from the Literific
By Sophie Stratfull, Contributor
It was a busy first two weeks back for the Literific, as the society celebrated its 166th Birthday, hosted three debates in three days, and opened nominations for the council elections.
The first debate of the semester took place on February 5th with the motion This House Believes LGBT+ Neglects the ‘T’. Ms Ellen Murray and Ms Emma Chadwick stood for the proposition as Mr Peter McCormack and Mr Stefan Iwanicki argued the opposing case. President Tara Pouryahya also opened council elections, and if last semester’s AGM is anything to go by, this year’s elections will prove to be just as fun. The debate itself proved lively, with a particularly strong floor debate. The House then moved to two votes; the proposition team were voted the best speakers of the night, and the motion itself was carried. As ever, the society then made its weekly visit to the House bar.
Friday then saw the society host a semi-final of the prestigious Irish Times Debate Competition, with Queens’s own Katy Waller battling against the Dubliners for a place in the Grand Final. Although Katy unfortunately didn’t make it through, she did the society proud with nuanced and compelling arguments, and superb puns to boot. The House then returned, once again, to the House Bar in attempt to out drink the visiting teams. Competitive debating continued onto Saturday with a quarter final of the Irish Mace, and it will surely not surprise at this point that the speakers then visited the society’s favourite of places, the House Bar.
Bringing a close to an exhausting two weeks, This House Believes Robin Hood Had the Right Idea became perhaps one of the best debates of the year, with Mr Calvin Black and Students’ Union President Mr Ciaran Gallagher proposing, and Mr Fionnbharr Rodgers and Mr Craig Miller against the motion. The debate moved between energetic hilarity to a serious discussion of UK economic policy and back, with a heated floor debate following. The House moved to a vote; the motion was carried, although an abstention vote prevailed on which side spoke best, with Mr Brendan Kelters noted also for best audience contribution to the debate.
The next meeting of the Literific will be on Thursday Feb. 19th with This House Would Tinder at 7pm in the Senate Room. If you’re interested in running for a council position or would like to know more, email Tara at president@literific.org. All of our previous debates can be found on iTunes as podcasts, and upcoming debates will be livestreamed at http://quis.qub.ac.uk:8080/Literific.
