This House Believes in a borderless Britain

DATE: Thursday, 21st April 2011
TIME: 7.30pm - 9.30pm
VENUE: Harcourt Arms, 32 Harcourt Street, W1H 4HX
MOTION: This House Believes in a borderless Britain

Background:
Vince Cable and David Cameron had a public argument this week over the benefits of immigration, while France and Italy have been rowing over temporary migrants. Both of these raise the immigration debate once again. Should we be worried about people from other nations moving into Britain? It has been happening for many years now under the open borders of the EU. With many people round the world wearing the same brands and having an email contacts list that sounds like a mini United Nations, national identity is increasingly looking like a relic of the 20th century. Is it time for countries to integrate to improve trading, governance and life in general? Or is our home country (wherever that may be for you) so important to our interest and sense of identity that we must preserve it against an ever more chaotic world.

Debate format:
There will be four speakers in this debate, each of whom will have five minutes to make their case. After that there will be an extensive Q&A session to allow the audience plenty of time to have their own say from the floor. The motion will then be put to a vote.

There's always plenty of time to grab a drink and get settled before the event starts too and we always stick around for a few more once it's over as inevitably that is always when the real debating begins.

If you have any questions or need any more information, do not hesitate to email us at central.debating@gmail.com.

Getting there:
If you would like to watch this debate, then simply come along on the night. You will find us in the upstairs dining room of the Harcourt Arms pub at 32, Harcourt Street W1H 4HX (a max 1o min walk from Baker St tube). For directions, see this map.

Admission:
Admission is, as ever, totally free of charge. All are welcome, so if you know anyone who might be interested in this debate, do feel free to bring them along.

Further reading:
Background:

1) David Cameron speech on immigration in full

2) France and Italy in migrant row (BBC)

Arguments in favour:

1) The case against immigration controls (New Compass)

2) Britain is not full (New Statesman)

Arguments against:

1) Almost 1 in 8 living in UK are born abroad (Daily Telegraph)

2)Immigration of small benefit to UK (BBC)


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