The Big Debate

Hosted by Ore Oduba, with a performance from George the Poet and judged by a star-studded and expert panel including Jamal Edwards, Tina Daheley, Emma Thompson and Jon Snow, today’s event saw Robert Clack School of Science from Dagenham, London take on Mount St Mary’s school from Leeds.

The event, ‘Comic Relief presents: The Big Debate with young people', was inspired by Debate Mate and run in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and was the final ‘showcase’ in a series of debates run by Debate Mate during the 2017 Red Nose Day campaign.

Bill Gates was in the audience, which included over 250 students from around the UK as the two schools debated the motion, “This House Believes That, for People in Developing Countries, the World is Getting Better”. After listening to the debate, Bill surprised the room with an inspirational talk focused on the progress that has been made in improving the lives of those in some of the world’s poorest communities. He then took questions from students in the audience, before Robert Clack School of Science who argued for the proposition were named winners of the debate.