My first and only foray into student debating was Valentine’s Day 2013 when I was drafted in at the last moment (to fill in for Peter Stringfellow, of all people) on the motion “This House Believes That Sex Has Lost All Meaning”. I was for it.
It went about as disastrously as you’d expect throwing a beginner with no credentials but a few essays on sexuality in classical literature into the bear-pit alongside a former porn actor, the director of an adult film company, two professional lifestyle writers and a woman who’d launched her own erotic emporium. My side lost, and my main memory of the evening was getting drunk in the bar afterwards with the porn actor who enthusiastically suggested I rethink my career path.
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
