The Great Big Politics Quiz – celebrating and lampooning politics in a way not possible everywhere #ImagineBelfast15

A big thank you to new faces and old-timers who came along to take part in the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz in the Black Box, part of the Imagine! 2015 Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics, and in support of Amnesty’s campaign for Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes (sign the global petition). As well as refreshing political trivia and recognition skills, we raised £1009.30 – thank you all.

A big thanks to The Black Box for the venue and help getting set-up, to question writers, scorers, caricaturist Brian John Spencer, celebrity local political question masters, Fearghal McKinney, Mike Nesbitt, Naomi Long and Cat Seeley, who added their own humour to proceedings, as well as to everyone who suffered our rounds of stretching Irish, Westminster, Northern Irish, Pictures, Videos and Leaders speeches.

The overall scoring was stronger than previous years with the top ten teams bunched together during the entire quiz. Local parties disagree on whether that’s due to easier questions, a more generous marking scheme or more informed quizzers.

Only one Petition of Concern was raised (by an Alliance question master!) against a question that was ultimately squashed. We may commission an inquiry into this dodgy question, but expect only to be able to publish its report in heavily redacted form.

We like to think that – in the spirit of our local political institution – everyone was working around the one Executive table and hence a winner. However, we all know that’s not true. So, after edging ahead in early rounds, former winners Stoops to Conquer, suffered a weak score in the second video round that left them trailing behind the runaway winners Curry My Conscience who picked up a bumper hamper of political books, films and paraphernalia sponsored by Stratagem.

Some of the question rounds will appear in posts in the days to come, courtesy of Alan in Belfast. In the meantime, here’s the score sheet for anyone who left early and wants to know if they’re owed a share of the prize! See if you can spot yourself or anyone you know in the picture below, courtesy of Moochin Photoman.