Debate topics that actually produce a debate

The test for a good motion

Before you commit to a topic, argue the side you disagree with for two minutes. If you can build something you would not be embarrassed to present, the motion works.

Motions fail in two directions. Too one-sided and the debate is a formality. Too vague and both teams spend the whole round arguing about what the words mean.

• Both sides have evidence, not just opinions.
• It is narrow enough to research in the time you have.
• The key terms have one obvious meaning, or you define them up front.
• It matters to somebody — a motion nobody would act on is hard to care about.

Education and student life

Accessible without research, which makes them good for classroom and beginner rounds.

• This house would abolish homework in primary schools.
• This house believes university should be free at the point of use.
• This house would ban smartphones in secondary schools.
• This house believes standardised testing does more harm than good.
• This house would make attendance at university lectures optional.
• This house believes students should evaluate and grade their teachers.
• This house would replace exams with continuous assessment.
• This house believes financial literacy should be a compulsory school subject.
• This house would abolish school uniforms.
• This house believes universities should stop using unpaid internships as a route into work.

Technology and AI

The strongest current source of genuinely contested motions.

• This house believes generative AI should be permitted in university assessment if disclosed.
• This house would require social media platforms to verify user age.
• This house believes algorithmic curation has done more harm than good to public debate.
• This house would give individuals ownership of their personal data as property.
• This house believes remote work has weakened early-career development.
• This house would ban targeted political advertising online.
• This house believes facial recognition should be prohibited in public spaces.
• This house would grant a right to disconnect outside working hours.

Ethics and society

Harder motions that reward genuine reading beforehand.

• This house believes voting should be compulsory.
• This house would introduce a universal basic income.
• This house believes wealthy nations owe unconditional climate reparations.
• This house would legalise assisted dying with safeguards.
• This house believes prison should aim solely at rehabilitation.
• This house would lower the voting age to sixteen.
• This house believes cultural institutions should return contested artefacts unconditionally.
• This house would abolish inheritance above a fixed threshold.

Business and economics

• This house believes shareholder primacy has failed.
• This house would break up the largest technology companies.
• This house believes the four-day week should be the legal default.
• This house would cap executive pay as a multiple of the lowest salary.
• This house believes gig-economy workers should be classified as employees.
• This house would abolish tipping in favour of higher base wages.

Building a case for either side

A debate case is three arguments, not twelve. Each needs a claim, a mechanism explaining why it follows, and evidence or a worked example.

Spend a third of your preparation on the other side. The rounds are won on rebuttal, and you cannot rebut an argument you have not anticipated.

• Define the terms first, before the other side defines them for you.
• Lead with your strongest argument — not everyone stays attentive to the third.
• Name the trade-off you are accepting. Pretending your position has no cost invites the obvious attack.
• Prepare one concrete example per argument. Abstractions do not persuade judges.