Topic 1

Historians have long debated how and why the British were able to amass such a formidable and expansive empire in the years since 1497. And why were the British able to supplant the Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish Empires in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and effectively see off French, Russian and German challenges over the nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries? These debates still rage and there is no definitive answer. What do you think are the key factors which contributed to British empire?

Topic 2

In July 2013, UK began its great European Union debate. The current Conservative collation government is pledging to hold a referendum on the U.K. remaining a member of the EU in 2017 following increasing pressure from members of his own Conservative party, and the Eurosceptic U.K. Independence Party. As far as the UK is concerned, Eurobarometer polls reveal one glaring and essential reality about public opinion: while Britons are consistently among the leaders on levels of hostility to Europe, they also know less than their peers about how the EU actually works. So while in a 2012 survey, only 35% of Britons felt there were benefits to EU membership, and only 36% were optimistic about the future of the EU, only 40% could claim to understand how the EU worked. What are the major arguments of the two debating parities?

Topic 3

How important is the Irish language to the Irish cultural identity?

Topic 4

The question of whether the Queen or the governor-general is Australia's head of state became a political one in the years prior to the Australian republic referendum in 1999 and remains one within the continuing debate around an Australian republic. Republicans include in their campaign the idea that the Queen is head of state and not Australian and, as such, should be replaced with an Australian citizen; this was summed up in their slogan "a mate for head of state". Opponents of the move to make Australia a republic claim in response that Australia already has an Australian as head of state in the governor-general, who, since 1965, has invariably been an Australian citizen. How likely is it that Australia will become a republic some day?