QE’s 46th annual dinner debate was “arguably the most interesting and engaging of the last few years”, according to the teacher in charge of debating, Nisha Mayer.
Old Elizabethans Aaron Sonenfeld and Zaid Belbagi proposed the motion This House believes universities have become too expensive and were up against current QE debaters and Year 12 pupils, Calum O’Sullivan and Krishan Shah.
The 150 Year 12 boys and 20 guests and staff enjoyed a lively debate in the Old Hall, after dinner in the Refectory. “It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening,” said Mrs Mayer. “Unsurprisingly, the motion was carried, gaining the most votes,” said Mrs Mayer. “But Calum and Krishan, opposing the motion, put up a spirited argument and in the vote taken at the end of the debate had increased their share compared to the vote at the beginning.”
OE Aaron Sonenfeld was School Captain in 2006-7 and a major figure in School rugby. He read Social & Political Science at St John’s, Cambridge, before taking up a post with Goldman Sachs.
Zaid Belbagi was a keen debater at School and initiated the first QE involvement in a Model United Nations Assembly and was also involved in a youth European Parliament. He graduated in International History at the LSE and is currently studying towards a Masters Degree in Politics and International Relations at Oxford.