Taylorian 2020

53 I t has been a year of transition for the Debating Society after many of its most stalwart members departed last year and new faces have begun to take their place. In this respect, one of the more pleasing developments has been the increased presence of boys from the lower years at the Society’s Thursday lunch time debates, both as observers and, increasingly, as participants in debates. I hope that this will continue and that they continue to hone the crafts of argumentation and rhetoric which are the hallmarks of the successful debater. The past year has not lacked controversies to spark debate, and indeed the Society’s motions have been particularly topical, ranging from the abolition of independent schools to the merits of a hung parliament, to questions of the right of governments to access an individual’s online search records. Since March, the Debating Society has continued online, although sadly without the traditional summer term House Debating competition. Nonetheless, the change in medium has in some respects provided an opportunity to experiment with the format of debates and training, and hopefully will have helped to prepare more boys to compete when the external competitions return next year. Very rarely has the skill of quick yet precise thinking which is the essence of debating been so important, and the Debating Society will continue to be a forum in which MTS boys can trade rhetorical blows and improve their minds. Mr P D Hoyle S&A Societies & Activities Debating Society Overall, until January, this year was a great one for theMTSMUN team. It is unfortunate that the conference season was cut short so early by the pandemic. It is often said that Model United Nations is a model for, not of, the United Nations, and this year’s success is a testament to that. Next year MUN will surely be back with vigour. William Gross (L6) T he year of 2019-2020 can be understood most easily by comparing it to the life of Edward III. The beginning of the year was strong and decisive, characterised by constant victory and easy cooperation. Then a robust beginning was betrayed by circumstance. This year has seen two major conferences for MTSMUN. The first, St Paul’s Model United Nations, was the larger and more prestigious conference of the two and saw three days of difficult, precise debating. On the afternoon of Friday 17th of January, an 11-person crack team of MUN’s finest sped through the underground with Mrs Pearson. Once in their committees, the eleven delegates began lobbying for their resolutions to be debated, meeting other delegates in their respective committees and sharpening the procedural knives to stab their new friends in the back (such is the nature of high-level MUN). The highlights of the next two days were easily a declaration of war on Israel for threatening to declare war on the United Kingdom (agreed in the LEGAL committee and authorised by the Security Council) and a plurality of awards which went to the MTS delegates and delegations. The second major conference of the year, John Lyon Model United Nations, was a very different beast. If SPSMUN was a polished five-course meal at a Michelin star restaurant, JLMUN was a Christmas dinner thrown together by loved ones. Though the debate was not as serious or regimented, the more informal atmosphere was just as fun. There were some unforgettable moments, like the discovery by an MTS delegate that another delegate in the conference had plagiarised a resolution from the UN, and, again, the winning of a plurality of the prizes by MTS delegates. Model United Nations