Lancaster Debating Union

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Lancaster Debating Union

The Official page for the Lancaster Debating Union. Join us for fun debates, events and competitions!
📍 Marcus Merriman LT
⏰ Wednesdays 3:30pm

Our public debates are open to all students and staff at Lancaster University.

2023/2024 Executive Committee:
President: Shloka Nambair
Vice-President: Callum Smith
Treasurer: Kamil Sabarudin
Internal Competitions: Tom McClatchey
Equity Officer: Tom McClatchey
External Competitions: Dan
Socials Officer: Lizzie McCoy

For queries about the schools outreach program and the Lancaster Schools debating competition: [email protected]

18/05/2026

Meet our exec for the upcoming academic year!

We’re excited to improve our training sessions and maintain our status as the best debating society you can find 🤩 (at Lancaster 😌).

✨🦖💜

05/05/2026

Photos from Roses 🌹 ✨

Big congratulations to Daniel and Aimee for winning it for Lancaster this year! (Yes we are shocked too)

Barney’s clearly our good luck charm ✨💜✨

27/04/2026

Photos from our IV last weekend!!

Thank you to everyone who attended, it was a really fun day and we actually managed 4 debate rooms!?!

We hope to see even more of you next year!

📸 .sheikh7 (and for slide 1)

25/04/2026

Just a reminder that today’s Lancaster IV is in Fylde College Lecture Theatre 1, not George Fox as was initially announced.

If you need any help finding your way, please message us here or on Instagram!

21/04/2026

We’re running out of time before it’s too late to sign up for the greatest competition of all time! But while we’re in this limbo, we may as well announce the tab of all tabs - Eleanor Murdoch! Gracefully surmised in a bio by Carys Hoggan.

Disclaimer: the acronym LDU is used in reference to the slightly worse LDU over in Liverpool, not our really sick and awesome one

I first met Eleanor when I was considering quitting the LDU (for the first time) at the first training session I ever attended. Convinced I'd never come back, Eleanor was one of the ones who pulled me out of a corner—both metaphorically, by making me laugh in our first spar together, and literally, by rescuing me from a prolonged and serious discussion about the existential nature of seeded bread in the bar afterwards.

A long-time champion of the underdog (or, at least, people trapped in dull conversations), Eleanor is someone I'm proud to call a friend, whose kindness and passion have led to her agreeing to give the extension speeches (though she doesn't know this yet). From my first ever speaking partner, to my fellow Training Officer, Eleanor has guided me through the beautiful and messy world of debate and committee, an achievement almost as impressive as Midori Ito's iconic triple axel at the 1988 Olympics (though only she will appreciate this reference). She doesn't just know debate back to front, however, but has proven her mettle with significant judge and speaker breaks, including winning the silver final of Birmingham Pro-Am and the gold final of Imperial WGM Pro-Am, breaking as a judge at Liverpool IV and, most prestigious of all, being an out round chair at Lancaster Schools 2024.

I have no doubt Eleanor will be an exceptional Tab for Lancaster IV seeing she has tabbed numerous tournaments before including both Lancaster and Liverpool IV.

I have no doubt Eleanor will be an exceptional Tab for Lancaster IV. Participants can expect to benefit from her sharp judgment, a genuine passion for making a great competitor experience, and a unique ability to make anyone feel welcome - and rest assured, if you find yourself trapped in a tedious conversation about bread, she'll send a judge to rescue you.

19/04/2026

Here’s our schedule for the first half of this term!

We’ve also got our IV and Roses the first two weekends of term.

See you there! 😊

18/04/2026

It isn’t too late to sign up to Lancaster IV, and to prove that, here’s another fantastic CA ANNOUNCEMENT. Everybody stand and cheer for Mustafa-Berk Ak! Nobody’s cheering more than their bio writer, who made us refer to them in full as ‘Matthew John Nichols, Former President of York Debating, President of Emiratus of York Dialectic Union.’

Mustafa-Berk Ak CAing at this competition is just the latest step in their never ending mission to bring back NAMDA. It might be futile, but it’s better than their previous hobby of debating children and allegedly making them cry (sincere apologies to the competitors in last year’s Cambridge regionals).

Fresh off the back of CAing York’s competition, we all hope that Mus’ competition running abilities are more consistent than their scores at the Imperial WGM. Mus is not letting the crushing weight of dissertation season get in the way of a good competition and certainly has the experience to make it happen.

Mus has been the deputy training officer at York, has judged at Durham IV, Imperial Novices, Manchester Novices, York’s competitions, and Glasgow Ancients, and has worked as a debate coach at St Peter’s School (admittedly in the ESU Mace format but we will forgive that this time). So get ready to hear about your “implicit burdens” and how you forgot to mechanise your mechanism.

However the competition goes, you’ll see Mus in the bar afterwards where we will discover that their tolerance is not what it once was.

17/04/2026

Time to get to know more of our fantastic organising committee for Lancaster IV on April 25th. Announcing the greatest CA of all time, Chrisie Pullin, with a wonderful bio written by Maja Patynowska!

If you had 'a joy to be around' and 'debater' on a Venn diagram the only name in the intersection there for sure would be Chrisie. This is true whether it be in a round or a night out. When she came up to Aberdeen, we had the perfect Aberdeen night out, starting with spoons, where we started doing a very random 'whats in my bag' that somehow ended up in a photo shoot with the items.

Following that we needed a drunk cigarette. However, the wind did not allow this, but instead of backing down, Chrisie came to a solution which led to some unfortunate pictures being born (ask her about these at Lancaster). Now to complete the perfect night we ended up in Belmont. The chips were in fact so great that Chrisie cradled them in her hands.

What is the moral of this story you may ask? Chrisie is creative, resilient and funny, not even mentioning all these achievements: judge breaks at Manchester Novices 2025, QMUL Open 2026 Southampton Pro-Am 2024, Liverpool IV 2025 just to name a few, and outround chairs at Lancaster Schools 2024 and 2025. Chrisie also knows what it’s like to speak at a Lancaster comp with a break at Lancaster IV 2024, as well as being the winner and best speaker of Roses 2022 and best speaker at the Liverpool Internal 2025. Which basically means she’s the CA for you!!

16/04/2026

With Lancaster IV in just over a week, it’s time to get to know the team in charge of the greatest comp of all time!

First of all, announcing our Advisory CA, the puppet master if you will, Jack Stanley!

Jack's first ever competition, back in the dawn of time, was the Lancaster IV where they averaged 69.6 (nice). They're really excited to help advise and support our CA team with motion development and CAing the competition.

Jack brings heaps of experience (age) to the table, having been on the CA teams of Copenhagen EUDC, Glasgow EUDC, Oxford IV, Vienna IV and, most importantly, Lancaster Schools.

Having previously been the president and competitions officer of Liverpool Debating, Jack is really excited to help support the revival of northern debating and provide any support to our really exciting and CA Team!

14/04/2026

Our AGM is happening on Wednesday 6th May (week 3 of summer term)

All roles are open and we encourage everyone to apply

We also encourage you to attend even if you don’t apply as the more votes the better! Remember the exec you vote in will shape the way the society operates for the next year so it’s very important!

See you there!

Address

Lancaster
LA1 4

Website

https://linktr.ee/lancasterdebating

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