Britain and Canada Debate Britain's World Leadership

At the Oxford Union, it's a good-natured but hard-fought duel, as each student speaker marshals one verbal stratagem after another to bolster his case and demolish his opponent's. The subject of debate is the resolution that Britain's leadership in world affairs is declining--a lively enough topic that finds no lack of interest when the film looks in on a McGill University group debating the same resolutions. Guides and commentators for this rare view of university debate are Rhodes scholar Hugh MacLennan, professor of English at McGill, and Emmett O'Grady, Professor of English from the University of Ottawa. Prompting them to probe the role of debate in university life is Ian MacNeil, producer of this film.