Aunty Got Bigger.

Back in the day, pre-internet, when I was at school, I was involved in a debate on capital punishment. I was leading a motion that This House Believes in the Death Penalty. The opposition was led by a national public speaking champion who was also quite a nice looking girl. Well, I won from behind in the voting on that evening and felt incredible, especially enlightening the young lady in the pub afterwards as to why and how I had won, and why that was A Good Thing.

I have to say I didn't expect to win, partly because of the fashionable humanist lethargy which people seemed to breathe in from media like the Beeb, but was pretty passionate about it and somehow, maybe through bluster behind some rock solid factual points, I managed it.

But I've been wondering if I could have won today, when the Beeb has on offer a free debater's anti-death penalty pack. That's how the Beeb's influence has crept along since that time. It's a shame people will think twice about thinking the issue through on their own when they know the opposition could have a ready made, Beeb-shaped crib sheet.

Don't think it would have stopped me though.