I will be in the company of real heavyweights while I will be the small fry. On the Bristol team, there will be Fahri Azzat, a prominent young lawyer, as well as Dato’ Ahmad Zaki Zahid, Head of Policy Unit in the PM’s Department.

On LSE’s side, there will be Raja Eileen, a partner from the law firm Raja, Darryl & Goh, and Dato’ Azman Yahya, former CEO of Danaharta. Originally Dato Tony Fernandes (of Air Asia) was also supposed to debate for LSE but I’ve been informed that he might have to pull out.

The debate will be carried out in the Economist Oxford 2.0 format, with slight tweaks.

For each topic (25 mins):

1. Intro by moderator – 1 min
2. Proposal opening – 3 mins
3. Opposition opening – 3 mins
4. Proposal rebuttal – 3 mins
5. Opposition rebuttal – 3 mins
6. Proposal conclusion – 2 mins
7. Opposition conclusion – 2 mins
8. Moderator summarises – 3 mins
9. Floor votes and vote-counting – 5 mins

It will be much faster than a standard debate, and it will be individual speakers against individual speakers, and not a team event. So there will be 3 topics up for debate.

Mine is the more light-hearted of the three: “This House believes that football as a sport does more for youth development than motorsports.” Luckily, I am on the proposition side, and I think the topic is quite heavily tilted to the proposition’s favour.

My opponent? Dato’ Azman Yahya. Good luck to me. I am stressed.

Quite short notice, but if anyone has any ideas in support of my topic, or if you can anticipate points raised in favour of the opposition, please drop a comment. Much appreciated!