2018 National School's Debate Competition Semi Finalists

The Town Hall building in Stornoway was the setting for the first two rounds of the National Gaelic Schools’ Debate which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday the 6^th and 7^th of November.  The judges; Iain Stephen Morrison, Agnes Rennie and Boyd Robertson, certainly had their work cut out whittling sixteen teams down to four.  The four teams who have reached the semi-final stages of this year’s competition are The Nicolson Institute A, Gairloch High School, Inverness Royal Academy A and Inverness Royal Academy B.

The first semi-final draw will see Inverness Royal Academy B against Inverness Royal Academy A.  In the second debate of the evening Gairloch High School will be against The Nicolson Institute A.   

The semi-finals will be held at Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh on Tuesday the 27^th November 2018.   The Final will be held the following evening in the Scottish Parliament and will be broadcasted live on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal.

The topic for the debate between Inverness Royal Academy B and Inverness Royal Academy A will be “Artificial Intelligence is a danger to mankind.” Gairloch High School will debate against The Nicolson Institute A on the topic “Make drugs legal and it’ll stop crime in the big cities.” The winner of Debate A will face the winner of Debate B in the final on the topic “Were it not for the two World Wars, we wouldn’t’ be so advanced as we are today.”