Nuclear Energy Must Power Our Future:
Lord Parkinson, Former Secretary of State for Energy; Bishop Hugh Montefiore, Former Bishop of Birmingham and former Trustee of Friends of the Earth; and Bruno Comby, Founder and President of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy spoke for the motion. Zac Goldsmith, Editor of The Ecologist magazine; Mycle Schneider, long-time advisor to international government institutions and NGOs on energy and nuclear policy; and Tony Juniper, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth spoke against the motion.
The debate, held on April 19, 2005, was chaired by broadcaster Martyn Lewis, Chairman Teliris & YouthNet UK.
Intelligence Squared is London's leading forum for live debate, holding regular debates on the crucial issues of the day and inviting the leading intellectual and political lights on the given subject to participate in them. The format of the debates is modeled on the one employed at the Oxford and Cambridge university Unions: a challenging, sharply defined motion; a team of speakers to propose the motion and a like number to oppose it; and a moderator to keep the speakers and the audience in order and force everyone to stick to the issues. After the main speeches and before summation, contributions are asked from the floor: audience participation is a key feature of the occasion, providing a rare opportunity for the public to voice their opinions and to challenge those of the speakers. A vote is taken before the debate begins and then again at the end so as to give a measure, often a very dramatic one, of the extent to which the audience has been swayed by the oratory and arguments of the speakers in the course of the evening.