People on job seekers allowance who refuse a job should lose their benefits

Under the new system proposed by the Conservatives, people on Jobseeker's who refuse a job or training programme will have their benefits stopped for a certain period of time. The long term unemployed will also be required to attend compulsory work skills programmes and those claiming for over 2 ...more...

Can public trust in climate change science can be restored?

Since the climategate scandal that started at the beginning of December 2009 there has been a continuous stream of reports that climate scientists may have been exaggerating their findings or else the evidence those findings are based on may not be rock solid. This has not surprisingly damaged pu...more...

Channel4 should not muzzle John McCririck

Channel4 has decided to cut down the airtime of veteran racing commentator John McCririck. He is scheduled to be reduced to the early hours of Saturday morning when no-one over 12 is awake. more...

Climate change = War?

Climate change is likely to have many negative consequences. These are often quite obvious, for example sea levels rise and there is likely to be coastal flooding, have more droughts and there is likely to be more famine. However one less obvious consequence may well be war. War has been a consta...more...

Cliodynamics - history needs to get mathematized

History needs to become an analytical predictive science. Cliodynamics (from Clio, the muse of history, and dynamics, the study of temporally varying processes) is the new transdisciplinary area of research at the intersection of historical macrosociology, economic history/cliometrics, mathema...more...

Should Illegal downloaders be cut off from the internet?

Internet users who persistently swap copyrighted material on the web will have their connections slowed down or even stopped by their internet service providers, (ISPs) Lord Mandelson has announced. The decision is an unexpected one after the government decided in June to let communications wa...more...

International students are charged unfairly high tuition fees at UK universities

As clearly stated in the title, this debate aims to resolve the never-ending issue and might as well name it as a predicament for all the International Students in the UK. They face a VERY BIG discrepancy, when it comes to tuition fees they have to pay, compared to ordinary Home Students. Is it ...more...

Is there is no hope of Obama creating Middle East peace?

At the start if the Obama presidency there was great optimism that he would help ensure that there was lasting peace in the Middle East. He demanded that Israel halted their constructions in settlements which ment that the USA would ensure that there would be peace in the region. But, both sides ...more...

All departments should bear the brunt of spending cuts to reduce the deficit

Both the Conservatives and the Labour party are promising to ring fence some areas from any spending cuts, areas such as international development and the NHS. However such ring fencing simply means that the cuts have to be bigger elsewhere in order to make up for the inability to cut in some are...more...

Should we have British summer time all year?

At the moment Britain goes by Greenwich Mean Time(G.M.T), but in the summer the clocks move forward an hour to give brighter evenings and one hour for people to work in. Moving to British summer time all year would however simplify things and have a multitude of other benefits to the economy.more...

Assisted Suicide Should Be Permitted 2

A preliminary round to determine who will represent the U.S. in the World Online Debating Championship. Resolution: Assisted Suicide should be permitted.more...

Governments should ban the media from reporting hostage-taking

Hostage taking media coverage, creates sympathy and dialogue for not only the hostages but the hostage-takers, who bring into light their political agenda and strife. They come out as victims/heroes and governments are portrayed as the bad guys who moved them to this 'desperate' criminal act. Gov...more...

Western powers should leave Afghanistan

Western powers have been occupying Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001 and the escalating human, financial and political costs of the continued occupation far exceed any benefits, either to the West or to the Afghan people themselves. The time has come for the West to admit they cannot contin...more...

Assisted suicide should be legal

The Debbie Purdy case in the United Kingdom shows a trend where assisted suicide is a notion that is becoming more common. Moreover, as modern medical technology advances, more people are given the opportunity to live longer than they wish, which results in unnecessary pain because they have no c...more...

Are women superior to men?

Women are 'solely' responsible for the propagation and existence of the human race. Now with the creation of artificial sperm, a man's role in the process is void and unnecessary. Statistically:Women live longer on average. Women deal better with stress.Women perform better in school. Women are...more...

Is s.44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 really illegal?

On the 12th January 2010 the court of Strasbourg, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that s44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 was illegal as it contravened Article 8, the right to respect for private and family life. The case was brought by Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton who were both stopped an...more...

Is the Recovery's failure the final nail in Brown's coffin?

The economic recovery is widely accepted as officially "failed". It is now one of the longest recessions in this country's history. Has this guaranteed the end of the Labour Government and/or Brown's leadership? Argue "yes" if you agree or "no" if you don't.more...

Will the decision to elect Obama lead to a 'honeymoon period of goodwill' towards America?

The Presidential “honeymoon” is the short period after a President is elected, when the opposition party refrains from attack. In the election of Obama, has America secured itself an international ‘honeymoon period’? more...

Should the moon be bombed?

NASA is going to bomb the moon to tap water sources on the Earth's natural satellite,but faces much ridicule and opposition from the masses who want to save the moon. One thing is clear we need water to survive and earth's resources are diminishing so the moon looks like a good alternative but on...more...

Labyrinth sequel anyone?

There are a host of possible trailers for the sequel titled 'The return of the goblin King' on YouTube. Labyrinth(1986) seemed to end open-ended.more...