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A QE team won praise from the judges for their multi-faceted presentation at the final of an Economics competition run by one of the country’s oldest thinktanks.

The team of four sixth-formers, including the co-presidents of QE’s Economics Society, were shortlisted among the final 12 teams for the final of the Budget Challenge run by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

Praising the boys on their contribution, QE’s Head of Economics Shamendra Uduwawala said: “Many of the finalists decided to concentrate on single policies whereas the QE boys decided to focus on multiple policies tackling different issues.”

Although the team were not among the eventual winners, Dr Stephen Davies, Head of Education at the IEA, praised their work as “very detailed and well worked-out”, saying: “I liked the presentation and [it was] very strong on an individual level.”

The QE team chosen from Year 12 by Mr Uduwawala consisted of Economics Society co-presidents Rishi Shah and Hanif Gofur, together with Neel Shah and Rushil Shah. They were competing against schools including Harrow, Repton and North London Collegiate School.

For the challenge, each team had to prepare a budget for the UK in the coming financial year, with taxation and spending policy, as well as more briefly analysing the macroeconomic conditions and setting out a broad policy and strategy in response to these.

Rishi said: “We prepared a 5,000-word budget and constructed new policies to address Brexit uncertainty, the UK’s ageing population, the global growth slowdown and Industry 4.0 revolution. Our policies included; eNHS (a centralised online platform for the National Health Service), Project Unicorn (a technology start-up accelerator programme to scale-up new firms into market giants) and a reduction in stamp duty to name a few.”

The final, which was held at the IEA’s Westminster base, began with an introduction from Dr Davies, who recently delivered a lecture at QE on game theory. He discussed the history of the IEA, which was founded in 1955 based on a vision from economist Friedrich Hayek and now reports on economic affairs.

Then the competition began, with each of the 12 teams being asked to give a ten-minute presentation on their budget, followed by a ten-minute cross-examination by the judges. Soon after lunch – a ‘grand buffet’ – came the presentation for the QE team.

“We delivered our vision for the future of the economy and outlined our main policies,” said Rishi. “The judges then questioned our polices in detail and posed questions such as: ‘Why not scrap stamp duty instead of just reducing it?’ to which I answered that the long-term goal is to reduce stamp duty over time and eventually bring in an annual land value-based tax. They also questioned the potential ‘cyber security threat to the eNHS’, to which we replied that blockchain technology would be used to prevent data breaches.”

During lunch, the competitors listened to a talk from Rebecca Lowe, who is the Director of FREER – a major new initiative from the IEA promoting a freer economy and a freer society. She tackled the question ‘Is democracy worth it?’

She argued that democracy isn’t the realisation of an ideal society; instead it is more of a process. She then moved onto the relationship between democracy, the rule of law and the judicial system.

After all the presentations, there was a talk from Dr Kristian Niemietz, the IEA’s Head of Political Economy, who explained some of the key phrases frequently heard in the EU debate. He noted that the implications of Brexit will be on trade, immigration and regulation, as leaving the customs unions and the European single market would end the free movement of people. He used the analogy that the EU is not like being a Netflix subscriber, where either one is, or is not, subscribed. Instead, the EU is a great deal more complex, with many different parts and subsections, and one can be in each of them without being in all of them.

A visiting historian and economist set out how game theory applies across a very wide range of human activity in a lecture to senior boys – while also giving his own views and predictions about Brexit.

Dr Steve Davies is Head of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs and has previously held academic roles in both the UK and US. He has authored several books, including Empiricism and History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and was co-editor with Nigel Ashford of The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991).

In his lecture to senior boys, he illustrated applications of game theory in football, TV game shows and in oligopolies (where a market or industry is dominated by a small number of large sellers). Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interaction between rational decision-makers.

Shamendra Uduwawala, Head of Economics, expressed his gratitude to Dr Davies for his visit, saying: “Game theory is a fascinating area of study, and he contributed significantly to our boys’ understanding of it by using such diverse and interesting examples. It was also good to have his own, well-informed perspective on Brexit, which complemented the lecture given here recently by Clément Leroy, a Research and Policy Engagement Associate from UCL’s European Institute.”

Himself a keen Manchester City fan, Dr Davies chose the penalty shoot-out at the end of the 2008 Champions League final between City’s local rivals Manchester United and Chelsea to illustrate game theory in the sport. United won the match after the team’s goalkeeper Van der Sar first pointed to his left, but then dived to his right, correctly guessing that Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka would shoot that way. Van der Sar saved and United duly won European football’s top prize.

Dr Davies also looked at game theory in the game show, Golden Balls, and at the dilemma faced by two suspects interrogated for crimes, where they must choose whether the best thing for themselves is to confess, stay silent or betray the other prisoner.

Turning to oligopolistic markets, he examined the issue of such markets involving just two firms. Both firms could benefit from both having high prices, but one will always try to undercut the other firm by lowering prices, he pointed out. This problem could be overcome by collusion, although that is illegal.

Dr Davies also digressed to talk about Brexit. Stating that there was an impression of widespread panic about it within business, he blamed the media because he said they were predicting – incorrectly, in his view – that desperate shortages are inevitable. In terms of companies stockpiling, this is usual in any time of uncertainty and is not uniquely or solely about Brexit.

Alluding to the current febrile political atmosphere, with much plotting going on in Westminster pubs, he noted the similarity to the 1885 general election, the first to be held after an extension of the franchise which meant that for the first time, a majority of adult males could vote.

There would be, he predicted, no second referendum, since a majority of Parliament is against it. A cross-party deal will form – to secure outcomes such as ‘Norway plus’ or continuing membership of the customs union – but he forecast that major splits will continue to happen as the March 29th Brexit deadline approaches.

Leading activist and writer Laura Bates impressed QE sixth-formers with a wide-ranging lecture on modern feminism.

The founder of the Everyday Sexism Project covered topics including definitions of feminism, transgender matters, the approach feminists should adopt to cultures elsewhere and the advice that should be given to young men in relationships with women. She also discussed her new Young Adult fiction book, The Burning.

After an invitation from hosts St Albans High School for Girls, a dozen Year 12 A-level Politics students attended the lecture, accompanied by Head of Year 12 and History & Politics teacher Lottie Coleman and Head of Politics Liam Hargadon. The School has selected feminism as an option within the A-Level Politics core syllabus.

“It was a really excellent talk,” said Miss Coleman. “She was so articulate and informed on the subject of feminism without being dogmatic, making her an incredibly impressive speaker.”

One of the QE sixth-formers, Rushil Shah, praised Ms Bates’ “well-articulated and convincing talk…which was not repetitive or droning at all,” adding that he had been impressed by her use of statistics. His classmate, Leo Kucera, praised her for addressing male stereotypes in society and for “confidently and accurately answering questions”.

Ms Bates started the Everyday Sexism Project website in 2012, five years after graduating from Cambridge with a degree in English Literature. The aim of the site is to document examples of sexism from around the world.

She spoke initially of her own experiences of sexism, including a Cambridge don who wore a black armband on the anniversary of women’s first admission to the university.

To illustrate her claim of the inequality facing women, she cited the fact that there are more men called John leading FTSE100 companies than women!

She stressed the need to discuss sexism and feminism with young men in relationships, saying that the suggestion sometimes made that this is a ‘minefield’ area is actually insulting to young men.

Regarding trans matters and how feminism applies in this area, she pointed out that women are not an homogenous group anyway, so the variety of experience seen among trans people should not be an issue.

Ms Bates felt that it is not the job of western feminists to impose their ideals in other parts of the world; they should instead concentrate on giving feminists from other cultures a platform.

Issues raised in a question-and-answer session after the lecture included:

• Discrimination against women in careers – Ms Bates said that the fact that women have children is not sufficient to explain this away
• Why women and men tend to choose certain careers – her view was that this is due to nurture, such as children being given ‘gendered’ toys
• Workplace gender quotas – the current situation is not a true meritocracy, so quotas are not inherently unfair, she said. They might speed up the process of attaining equality as a short-term step, alongside other measures.

Besides Leo and Rushil, the QE attendees were: Alex Beard; Chris Hall; Senan Karunadhara; Tohgo Kimura; Mehdi Reza Lilani; Aditya Mukopadhyay; Josh Osman; Ryan Ratnam; Oscar Robinson and Teg Singh.

Four Year 10 boys shone in this year’s Maths Feast competition, rising to the challenge of tough questions that even included topics from the A-Level Further Mathematics syllabus.

They won two of the four rounds at the London Academy of Excellence in Tottenham, taking the maximum possible points total in the Dessert round, as well as winning the Starter round. At the end of the event, they had netted 109 points out of an overall possible total of 121, placing them first out of the 15 schools taking part, with the QE boys playing as team no. 8.

The team, who were selected by the School, comprised Andy Kwak, Alexandre Lee, Sheikh Mohiddin, and Dan Suciu.

Congratulating them, Mathematics teacher Kirtan Shah said: “This was a truly commendable achievement. All four students worked well together as a team, strategising and using each other’s strengths to their advantage.”

The competition, which is held at locations across the country, is run by the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP) – a Government-funded initiative – and is billed as a “fun educational challenge for Year 10 students which tests problem-solving and teamwork skills”.

Each Maths Feast event is a one-off, with no further heats or finals, so participants and their accompanying teachers can take materials back with them to their schools.

This year’s challenge involved teams working on a variety of problems, ranging from a Merry Go round requiring a large amount of independent work to a relay that involved working in pairs. The A-Level Further Mathematics content came as the ‘surprise’ element of the competition; it was based around networks and algorithms.

Afterwards, team member Andy said: “I found the whole event a way for me to improve my problem-solving skills, especially in the individual round, where we had to work by ourselves and had no one else to depend on.”

A Brexit specialist from UCL’s European Institute gave boys some expert insights into the current political turmoil in a lecture to Years 10 and 11.

Clément Leroy, a Research and Policy Engagement Associate at the institute, came to QE to explain the background of the recent ‘meaningful vote’ in Parliament and looked at all the major issues involved.

Although he did not, of course, know how things will play out in the coming weeks, he suggested that a ‘no deal’ outcome is quite possible – and even likely – given that this is the default position if a deal is not agreed and approved by Parliament.

Mr Leroy worked on Brexit at the French Embassy in London and on EU economic policies at the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Paris prior to his appointment to the European Institute.

Nisha Mayer, Head of Academic Enrichment, thanked Mr Leroy for his visit: “He did a good job of explaining the current situation, bringing some clarity – if not solutions!.

She added: “With wall-to-wall media coverage and lots of material on social media, it is important that we help the boys sort through the ‘noise’ to understand the key facts and issues about matters as significant as the Brexit process. We seek to develop the critical thinking and questioning skills that will equip them to formulate balanced and informed viewpoints, even if they may still respectfully disagree.”

Among the topics Mr Leroy covered during the lecture were the initial referendum, the negotiations, the Irish backstop and the potential outcomes and how we might reach them. Boys also had the opportunity to ask questions.

Actions speak louder than mere words on a page – as a theatre group proved when they visited QE to perform two plays from the GCSE English syllabus and lead workshops on them.

The company, Say Two Productions, performed Romeo and Juliet for Year 11, before putting on J B Priestley’s early 20th-century classic, An Inspector Calls, for the whole of Year 10.

In each case they first set the context of the play, then performed it using the respective playwright’s original language.

Head of English Robert Hyland said: “The workshops served as revision sessions, with these plays being key course texts. Our visitors’ fun and engaging delivery refreshed minds about both the plot and the key issues of the plays.”

Say Two Productions design a bespoke experience based on the School’s requirements.

After performing Romeo and Juliet themselves, they engaged the boys in some acting, getting them involved in the action, characterisation and themes of the play. Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in northern Italy, and mainly the city of Verona, during the Renaissance.

Following the performance of An Inspector Calls, Say Two Productions conducted a ‘hot-seat’ question-&-answer session – that is, answering the boys’ questions whilst still in character. This helped the boys understand the viewpoint and motivations of the different characters in the three-act play, which was first performed in 1945, but is set in 1912 in Brumley, a fictional English manufacturing town.

At the heart of An Inspector Calls is Priestley’s exposure of the hypocrisies of Edwardian English society and his highlighting of class injustice. Shakespeare’s tragedy centres on two young “star-cross’d lovers” whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families.

“With Shakespeare, sometimes seeing and hearing the text delivered helps to contextualise it and highlight how relevant the play remains thematically today. It was a good opportunity for some of the boys to immerse themselves in the play by participating in the action,” Mr Hyland added.