Brentwoodian 2019

95 This year it has been my privilege to be the Chair(wo)man of the senior debating society SABS, and I genuinely hope that all of the Sixth Form have enjoyed and benefited from the meetings as much as I have. SABS is a wonderful opportunity for students to develop their critical faculties - debating with their peer group and guest speakers by posing and attempting to answer interesting and challenging questions. The speakers themselves, often at the top of their respective fields, serve to broaden the students’ horizons on topics they may never have been exposed to, and therein find a passion that they never knew they had. George Flashman was our exceptionally committed Vice Chairman aided and abetted by the singular Victor Sarpong as Secretary, and the Society was presided over by Mr Willis and Mr Bowley. I feel that I can say with absolute confidence that we’ve had a rather splendid year. The Michaelmas term began with rigorous Parliamentary discourse - albeit from very different sides of the political divide. We began with a talk from the former leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett, with a focus that touched upon environmental concerns, as one might expect - but which expanded to form a wider commentary on the state of modern politics focusing on social issues, in particular education. In stark contrast, our next speaker, local MP Alex Burghart, examined ‘Social Justice from a Conservative Perspective’, which a cynic might suggest is an oxymoron, yet it became a genuinely thought- provoking debate. It unleashed a flurry of excellent questions from the members who displayed their engagement with the speaker’s claims, whether in respectful disagreement or by probing to better support their shared views. Watching the students so skilfully engage with such complex issues was genuinely encouraging. A personal highlight of my year was the debate on the existence of a Christian God between the humanist David Pollock and Father Pius Collins. It was fascinating to watch this exchange between two speakers, who were not just opposed to the arguments of the other, but who were polar opposites who simply refuted the very premise of their opponent on ideological grounds. Neither stood much chance of actually swaying the audience in our allotted hour, but the debate was interesting and illuminating. That may have been my highlight, but it would be wrong to overlook the talk on ‘The Truth about Drugs’ by Professor David Nutt which seemed to draw by far the largest crowd of members. I think everyone was in awe of his entertaining, informative and persuasive case for the legalisation of all drugs in a radical shift from the government line, which is clearly losing the war on drugs. That’s surely the wonder of SABS - by exposing yourself to wide- ranging and differing viewpoints, a proposition which initially seemed entirely insane, or at the very least the concoction of some wayward teenager’s fever dream, becomes a workable and viable solution to the increasingly devastating drug debate. The Lent term didn’t disappoint after the high standard of debate set during Michaelmas. In particular, Old Brentwood Aaron Simpson’s speech posing the question of whether ‘The Rich Live in Fear of Revolution’ was an entertaining and entirely novel view of a social strata few of us will experience. While we are privileged to study at an independent school in an affluent area, Mr Simpson, founder of the luxury members club ‘Quintessentially’, exposed an intimate view of the lives of the super wealthy that satisfied a voyeuristic fascination more readily (and poorly) filled by vacuous reality television. We were also treated to a presentation from the staff and students of Summerhill School, which follows a radical educational model of collective decision- making by staff and pupils, as well as a system of no compulsory lessons or schoolwork. While I’m sure that Brentwood is in no hurry to abandon uniforms and homework, and force us all to run feral in the woods, I’m certain that we all gained something from questioning the accepted norms of our education system, by comparing it with the various merits of an entirely freer, student-focused, model. Our invited speakers may make SABS seem rather formal, but it wouldn’t be SABS without a few arguments, would it? And so our popular members’ debates see students engage in spirited confrontation within a framework of cordial disagreement on the most divisive topics - allowing them to develop invaluable life skills in debating and public speaking. The students discussed the political hot button topics of gun legislation in America, the efficacy of the death penalty, income inequality and the use of positive discrimination in university selection, and in particular the debate used to elect our new Chairman as well as his Vice and Secretary, was ‘What was the most harmful invention of the 21st Century’? The real highlight of the SABS year is our annual dinner, ostensibly a celebration of our debating society but which is essentially a chance for speakers, with varying degrees of wit and tact, to mock Mr Willis - primarily for his advanced years! Aren't we cruel? And yet while both myself, and the far more eloquent and erudite Mr Jonathan Karas QC, did just that in our after dinner speeches, Old Brentwood Lord Black, the Conservative Director of Communications and former Director of the Press Complaints Commission, took the higher ground and treated us to a talk on ‘Lessons from the Front Line - Life in Politics and the Media’. Not only did he entertain and enlighten us about politics, but he touched upon the ramifications of being the first openly gay peer which gave his speech a powerful personal resonance. The night was a resounding success. I have genuinely had a wonderful year as Chair, questioning the foundations of my own belief systems, especially in Mark White’s persuasive case for veganism as well as exploring issues far beyond my comfort zone with Andrew Sentence’s perspective on economics and business. I enjoy the cut and thrust of debate and SABS