
posted 5th November 2024

In the mornings, do you run down the stairs, grab your keys, your bag and a banana (as you've had no time for breakfast), then sprint to the bus stop, arriving at school as the teacher on gate duty is on the point of packing up? At an airport, are you the one running down the corridor to the departure gate, just as they're about to take your luggage off the plane? Do you stay up all night before a coursework deadline? Do you do your Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve?
Normally in life doing things at the last minute causes stress, for you and for others. But in debating it can sometimes be a good thing. Sometimes. Leaving yourself ten seconds to make your last point, forcing you to reduce a sophisticated and complex argument to a rattle-tat list of bullet points, will not help you. You should allow yourself time to develop your arguments thoroughly and in depth. But developing your arguments thoroughly also means using the full time allowed. If you stop thirty seconds (or a minute, or two minutes) short - the debating equivalent of doing your Christmas shopping before Halloween - you will not have given yourself enough time to make your case as fully as you should. That's why you should aim to be still talking on the knock.
What is 'on the knock'? It's the signal given by the chair, by banging twice on the desk with their gavel, fist or textbook, that the full time is up and you have fifteen seconds left to finish off.
Where should you be 'on the knock'? Not starting your last argument; you won't have time to develop it. Not even halfway through your last argument; you won't have time to finish it. You should be halfway through your last sentence. This will allow you to make the most of every last second allocated to you, without rushing any of your arguments. Here's how it might look, at the end of a speech for the motion This house would introduce a wealth tax.
'So, to sum up, I have shown you that a wealth tax would be both fair and effective for the following three reasons: [knock, knock] it would reduce divisive inequality, it would support public services, and it would incentivise more productive economic activity. Thank you.' Over the line in five minutes, ten seconds, and not one of those seconds wasted.
By the way, Christmas cards are sometimes half price in January. But perhaps that's taking getting ahead of yourself a bit far