THE SECOND heat of the second round of The Courier/The Chartered Institute Of Bankers In Scotland Schools Junior Debating Competition was held at Kinross High School last night.

The motion was that “This house believes that NATO should be disbanded.”

The proposers, contending that the alliance was an anachronism, were Kirsty Paterson-Hunter and Felicity Anderson of Kinross High School; Carys Williamson and Katy Trim of Dollar Academy; and Christina Gilruth and Ailsa Ritchie of Bell Baxter High School.

In opposition, defending Nato, were Alli Evans and Conner Scanlon, Dunfermline High School; Peter Blair and Richard Watt (dummy team from St Andrews University); and Charlie MacArthur and Lewis Saffrey of Auchterarder School.

The proposition’s case, that NATO was outdated and irrelevant, was best expressed by Kirsty Paterson-Hunter when she said, “The cold war, NATO’s raison d’etre has disappeared.” And the proposition case was extended to discuss replacing NATO with a European army, illustrated by Carys Williamson who said, “NATO should have come down with the Berlin Wall.”

The opposition’s arguments focused upon the military benefits of NATO, best expressed by Conner Scanlon when he said, “Keep NATO alive, keep peace and security alive.”

The house passed the motion by 27 votes to 22 with four abstentions. Kinross High School and Dollar Academy go to the semi-finals. The Speaker for the evening was Miss Sally Young of the University of St Andrews Union Debating Society.

Judges were Mr Martin Scott, Mr Alan Jamieson representing the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland; Mr Ben McGreedy representing the University of St Andrews Union Debating Society; and Mr Ewan MacDonald, tournament secretary.