Louise Burfitt-Dons amongst speakers in the Cosmo-Currie debate

Chiswick‘s Louise Burfitt-Dons was amongst the invited speakers at The Cambridge Union feminism debate at which ex-mp Edwina Currie was publicly humiliated by Cambridge undergraduate and author Christiana Spens.

The debate was titled “This house believes we’d be better off if women ruled the world”.

The discourse descended into a shouting match between Currie and Louise Court, Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Currie was hurling abuse at Court, with outbursts such as: “But you’re a journalist! You’re a joke! You edit a rubbish magazine – you could have done so much better.”

Spens, a second year philosophy student at Homerton, stood up and asked: “Is doing much better, seducing John Major?” to the cheers and applause of the packed chamber.

In her blog on the Cambridge Tab Spens explains ‘I am against the petty bullying of other women.’

“[Currie] was being completely awful, so then I stood up. There was a pause in the chaos and Edwina let me speak (she must have thought I was on her side or something.

“[After that] Edwina Currie stopped bullying the Editor of Cosmo because she didn’t know what to say. It was so fun.”

Louise Burfitt-Dons, a humanitarian campaigner whose work includes running an anti-bullying charity for children, told ChiswickW4.com, "The opposition’s arguments were for the most part personal attacks which was probably more suitable for the court room than the debating chamber."

"However, it was nice to have someone speak up in our defence. Plus the hospitality shown by the Debating Society at Cambridge was second to none. It was a great evening."

Other participants in the debate included Emma Wimhurst, a self-made millionaire after founding a cosmetic company from home, and James Max, a journalist and radio presenter who was a semi-finalist on the first series of The Apprentice and barrister Rupert Myers.

October 24, 2009