12:30pm Luncheon

President's Report on the Debate:

Rotary's 'Age & Experience Speaks!' The Masters on 'Remain or Brexit?'

Rotary's 'Youth Speaks!' is long-established in developing and showcasing youthful public speaking skills.

This lunchtime programme saw the much-anticipated 'Age & Experience Speaks!' emerge as an example of gladiatorial verbal combat between Master Debaters on a critical issue of our time: The UK and the EU: Remain or Brexit?

Tim Peet led the Remain case; Alan Child led the Brexit case. Both were subjected to timed periods of questioning from the floor of a packed dining room, before two final votes were taken. The polite, informed exchanges contrasted favourably with the insolent, accusatory flavour of some of the UK political debates, but Tim Peet's history as a surgeon got the better of him at one point, when he tried to take a scalpel to Alan Child's opening comments while 'the patient Alan' was still alive and talking.

After extensive points and questions spanning 800 years of history, the economy, democracy, security and border controls, Simon Milstead perhaps summarised most eloquently: after addressing points which are finely balanced or questionable on security and border controls, there remains an economic cost and a democratic gain associated with Brexit, and different individuals will trade those two factors off against each other to different degrees.

The final two votes could hardly be closer:

Vote 1, based on the points made on the day: Remain 16, Brexit 15.

Vote 2, based on prior, underlying core feeling: Remain 14, Brexit 17.

No doubt, Government House will welcome our resulting input to factor into advice to the UK.

Sincere thanks to Alan Child and Tim Peet as our 'Age & Experience Speaks!' Masters on the day and to those who participated or attended.

We are likely to repeat this format twice a year in future to unleash further Rotary Masters on other critical issues of our time.