The annual STUC schools’ debating competition turned out to be an east-west battle, Glasgow-wise - Bannerman High and St Andrews Secondary pitted against Notre Dame High and Cleveden Secondary from the slightly leafier bits to the west.
The motion was that, if Sir Walter Raleigh were alive today, he should be sued for introducing tobacco and that the evil weed should be banned.
By a neat twist of fate, Eddie Reilly from the Public and Commercial Services Union and a self-confessed 40-a-day man found himself supporting the motion on the same side as the eventual winners, Suzi Bateman and Joseph Hayes from St Andrews.
Hayes did his team’s chances no harm by suggesting that if Sir Walter was indeed alive he would be charged with drug peddling - adding: “Maybe that’s why they named the bikes after him.”
