BeIR/webis-touche2020 huggingface dataset:
Transparency allows citizens to choose for a healthy leader as to ensure proper functioning

Administrative capabilities should not be compared to health. Unhealthy leaders may perform better than the healthy ones, people could be misled to choose inappropriate leaders while taking health as a black spot while the leader could actually have a better potential than the rest. If the electorate had just elected on the basis of health, or had been fully informed about presidents health then it is plausible that neither FD Roosevelt of JF Kennedy would have been elected. Neither completely hid their illnesses but they were not discussed and did not become election issues as they would have in a modern election.1 1 Berish, Amy, ‘FDR and Polio’, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/polio.html
Denial of privacy to the leaders

When leaders choose to serve the country they should be ready to sacrifice their privacy for the country. There is clearly a different standard for those who are in government and should be publicly accountable to those who are not. Even more minor illnesses can damage the running of the country through either affecting the judgment of the leader or limiting the amount of time he can work. The people have the right to demand their leader has his full attention of the issues affecting the nation. If he can't do that then he should resign.
Rivals could misuse the opportunity

Transparency is still better than secrecy. There are several reasons why the opportunity of instability is as present when keeping the leader's health a secret. The first is that it is likely that at least some of the leader's rivals are in government so are likely to be in the loop on any illness. In this case secrecy simply gives these individuals more opportunity to do as they wish. Secondly a lack of transparency creates uncertainty which can be filled by a rival wanting to seize power; if the leader is just ill and there is a void of information it is simply for rivals to seize the narrative and claim he is dead enabling their takeover.
Investigating a sideshow

The issue of the United States bugging Merkel and whether Germany can reach an agreement to prevent spying in the future is really a sideshow. The bugging of one person no matter how important does not matter. Much more important is the protection of the internet and internet freedom. This German Interior Minister de Maiziere[1]says is what is most important and Germany can work with the USA on it “There are organized criminals, who are interested in our transactions. There are business models that aim to sell individuals' profile images, and so on… The protection of the Internet, against whomever, that is our common purpose, and not just this fixation on the NSA.”[2] Germany should not be fixing on what the NSA has done but be looking at the broader picture. [1] NB the German government changed on 17th December with a resulting reshuffle [2] Deutche Welle, ‘German Interior Minister de Maiziere warns over NSA 'fixation'’, dw.de, 10 January 2014, http://www.dw.de/german-interior-minister-de-maiziere-warns-over-nsa-fixation/a-17373037
Illegal under German law

Of course spying on another country is illegal, but everyone does it. Le Monde in July had a report on The Direction Générale de la Securité Extérieure (DGSC) having systematically collected “the electromagnetic signals transmitted by computers and phones in France, as well as the digital streams going back-and-forth between the French and abroad. All communications are being spied on: emails, SMS messages, phone records, Facebook and Twitter updates, which are all then stored for years”.[1] [1] Follorou, Jaques, and Johannès, Franck, ‘Exclusive: French Intelligence Has Its Own Version Of PRISM’, Worldcrunch, 4 July 2013, http://www.worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/exclusive-french-intelligence-has-its-own-version-of-prism/dgse-prism-secret-service-france-big-brother-/c1s12643/
Doing nothing makes Merkel and Germany look weak

Politics is about action. The German government has to take some action on the issue of NSA surveillance and German privacy or it will look weak. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich went to Washington in July but was accused of “returning empty-handed” and having “not moved a single step forward on any of the key points”.[1] The stonewalling by the United States provides an opportunity for opponents to Damage Merkel’s new government as well as potentially to show gaps between the SDP and CSU. Merkel has been invited to visit Washington at some point in 2014 by President Obama,[2] Merkel can’t afford for her own diplomacy to have as little result as Friedrich’s. [1] Deutsche Welle, ‘SPF, Greens slam Interior Minister Friedrich after US surveillance talks in Washington’, dw.de, 13 July 2013, http://www.dw.de/spd-greens-slam-interior-minister-friedrich-after-us-surveillance-talks-in-washington/a-16949123 [2] Reuters, ‘Obama invites Merkel to visit during call about trade, NATO’, 8 January 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/08/us-usa-germany-obama-merkel-idUSBREA071CR20140108
Damages US-German relations

A failure by the United States to agree to a no spy agreement already damages relations. One of the leaders of the SPD, Thomas Oppermann, has said “failure of the agreement would be unacceptable” and would “change the political character of relations.”[1] If the US is willing to damage relations by stonewalling then should the Germans really be considering US diplomatic feelings in the matter? The United States gains from its relations with Germany as well as the other way around. Stopping intelligence sharing as a result of a prosecution would be acting against US interests in fighting terrorism. [1] Deutsche Welle, ‘Impasse at US-Germany ‘no-spying’ talks?’, dw.de, 14 January 2014, http://www.dw.de/impasse-at-us-germany-no-spying-talks/a-17361318
Illegal under German law

Monitoring communications in Germany’s capital – including the communications of government leaders like Merkel would be illegal under German law. Numerous politicians, such as then interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich have stated that those “responsible must be held accountable”.[1] There are even those, such as Gregor Gysi from the far left Left Party who say “The fact that the German government and the Federal Prosecutor isn't acting shows that their fear of the US government is greater than their respect for our legal system.”[2] When an act is illegal the state has a moral responsibility to prosecute that act. It should not be OK for another state to break the law simply because it is an ally and there is a desire to keep relations cordial. [1] McGuinness, Damien, ‘US bugged Merkel's phone from 2002 until 2013, report claims’, BBC News, 27 October 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24690055 [2] Spiegel Staff, ‘Probing America: Top German Prosecutor Considers NSA Investigation’, Spiegel Online, 20 January 2014, http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-syping-scandal-a-944415.html
No chance of an agreement with the USA

The German government has been working towards a ‘no-spy agreement’ with the United States. It however looks unlikely that such a deal will every become a reality with officials saying “we won't get anything” and “the Americans lied to us” about the chances of an agreement.[1] German officials have also been disparaging of Obama’s new announcements on restrictions of the NSA; Roettgen, a member of Merkel’s party says “The fundamental question is, should security services be able to do everything they’re technically able to do, Obama essentially said ‘yes’”.[2]  If Germany can’t get an agreement then it has no choice but to act unilaterally. [1] Medick, Veit, and Meiritz, Annett, ‘’The Americans Lied’: Trans-Atlantic ‘No-Spy’ Deal on the Rocks’, Spiegel Online, 15 January 2014, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/us-german-no-spy-deal-in-danger-of-failure-a-943614.html [2] Donahue, Patrick, ‘Germany Says Obama’s Spying Pledges Fail to Address Concerns’, Bloomberg, 20 January 2014’, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-20/germany-says-obama-s-spying-pledges-fail-to-address-concerns.html
Damages US-German relations

An investigation would have serious repercussions for German-American relations which would be seriously against German interests. Germany needs the United States as an ally in NATO and both are currently disengaging from deployments in Afghanistan. Much more important might be the impact on intelligence sharing between Germany and the United States. Intelligence officials are concerned “They could simply shut off the faucet,” with the Americans simply no longer providing intelligence to Germany. This would immediately impact German security by making it more likely terrorists could attack German interests.[1] Germany should accept the Obama’s assurances “As long as I am the President of the United States, the German Chancellor need not worry about that [surveillance of Merkel]”.[2] [1] Spiegel Staff, ‘Probing America: Top German Prosecutor Considers NSA Investigation’, Spiegel Online, 20 January 2014, http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-syping-scandal-a-944415.html [2] Reuters, ‘Obama Tells Merkel, Germans He Will Not Wiretap’, Huffington Post, 18 January 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/18/obama-tells-merkel-germa_n_4624463.html
Athletes should decide for themselves.

In sports it is crucial that the best person wins no matter of his or her sex.  We should let the women decide if they are prepared enough to participate in men’s events, and not take that decision for them by forcing them into set leagues. American skier Lindsey Vonn has won the women's World Cup four times. In November 2012, she asked to be allowed to compete in the men's event. The request was denied(1). If a female athlete can perform better than a male athlete in a certain discipline, she should be allowed to compete with, and beat, the male athlete. The examples of Danica Patrick, a “NASCAR driver who won the 2008 Indy Japan 300 and finished 3rd in the 2009 Indy 500” and Seena Hogan who holds multiple records in ultra cycling, which haven’t been beaten by any man or women to this day(2), show us how women can improve a competition in a significant way. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who wins, the very purpose of sports forces us to let them take the decision, as we cannot accurately suppose that women are worse than men at every single competition of every single sporting event as shown by the stated examples. (1) The Associated Press, “Skier Lindsey Vonn can't race against men in WCup” November 3, 2012 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57544795/skier-lindsey-vonn-cant-race-against-men-in-wcup/ (2) Esteban “9 Female Athletes Who Competed Against Men”, Total Pros Sports,  October 28, 2011 http://www.totalprosports.com/2011/10/28/9-female-athletes-who-competed-against-men/
Preventing discrimination in sport

Assuming we would have two equally muscular and equally fast male and female athletes, the current system clearly discriminates the female athlete by not allowing her to compete in the male league. It is against the very nature of sports to treat differently two athletes who have the same strength, speed, agility, dexterity, mental focus, determination, ambition based purely on their type of chromosomes.  This is extremely important as most of the time the women’s competition gets less attention from the public and sponsors, as seen in the cases of Women’s National Basketball Association and National Women’s Football Association. So, by forcing them to stay in those leagues, you are denying potentially successful athletes fame, pride and money. The Giro Rosa, one of the biggest women cycling competition, offers a prize money of 460 Euros, which is a mere thousandth of the Tour de France's 450,000 Euro top prize.(1) (1) Barth Sarah “Why can’t we have a women’s Tour de France?”, Road.cc ,July 14, 2013 http://road.cc/content/news/87934-why-can’t-we-have-women’s-tour-de-france
Encouraging future female athletes

One of the best ways to have a healthy life, avoid obesity and learn crucial values like respect, teamwork and fair play is by practicing a sport. In order to incentivize women from around the world to get involved you need to give them role models; women who receive a lot of media coverage to whom they can look up to. Unfortunately, women’s sports don’t receive as much media coverage as men’s sports because they are considered to be less spectacular and thrilling. By allowing certain women, who have the necessary skills to compete against men to get this coverage you will give young girls the necessary motivation to start practicing sports, thus bringing a massive social benefit to the society.  This happens already to successful women who are lucky enough to compete with men, as shown by Danica Patrick, so why should we stop here?(1) (1) White Rea, “Patrick inspiration to young females” MSN Sports, February 23, 2013 http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/danica-patrick-inspires-young-fans-jimmie-johnson-jeff-gordon-carl-edwards-daughters-meet-star-022213
Crimination would increase

From the very beginning, it is important to understand that many sports are based on the physical attributes of the individuals. Whoever has the biggest muscles, whoever is fastest, whoever lifts a bigger weight, he is the one who will be declared champion. When we look at the statistics, they reveal the massive gap between the athletic capacities of the two sexes for example “The women's speed world records are all about 90 percent of the men's speed world records, in both short, middle and long distances.”(1). This only means, that although some women will win some sporting events, the vast majority of competition will still be won by men. As a result, more than ever, a message of female inferiority will be transmitted because in a direct competition between the sexes males will constantly win an element which was lacking in the past. This is defining sport in men’s terms not women’s. It says sports are men’s sports and relegates women’s to a secondary status at the same time having men constantly winning against women will show that this definition needs to be challenged. This is extremely important and it will come in direct contradiction to our efforts as a society to promote gender equality and to diminish stereotypes. We shouldn’t try to turn sports into a “Competition of the sexes”. (1) Meyer Robinson “We Thought Female Athletes Were Catching Up to Men, but They're Not”, The Atlantic, Aug 9 2012 http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/we-thought-female-athletes-were-catching-up-to-men-but-theyre-not/260927/
There will be a negative effect on women’s leagues

Unfortunately, in the Status Quo there are a lot of women sporting leagues which are completely overshadowed by men’s, such as cycling, basketball or soccer. What is needed in order for them to grow is a lot of talented, gifted women athletes which will create the “thrill” needed to attract media coverage, which in turn attract sponsors. In time, as more and more young female athletes are drawn into these sports, slowly but surely they will grow and narrow the financial and coverage gap between them and men’s leagues. But if women are allowed to compete in men’s leagues the very best females in that sport, who are the bedrock for future development, will likely quit the women’s leagues for the men’s. Women already seem inclined to do this, American skier Lindsey Vonn has won the women's World Cup four times asked to be allowed to compete in the men's event.(1) As a result, the women’s leagues will be stripped of their best competitors. Left on its own the level of competition will rise and will surely catch up with the men’s leagues as far as money and media coverage is concerned. This is being proven by tennis, handball and athletics where there is as much money and fame for the female winners as there is for the male ones. (1) The Associated Press, “Skier Lindsey Vonn can't race against men in WCup” November 3, 2012 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57544795/skier-lindsey-vonn-cant-race-against-men-in-wcup/
Destroying the pleasure of watching certain sports

In today’s society, we have reached a point where a significant majority of the population is extremely sensitive towards domestic violence of any form, but particularly coming from a man directed towards a woman. Unfortunately, a wide variety of extremely popular sports are to a certain degree very violent such as: boxing, kickboxing, rugby, MMA or American football. Certain matches between a male and a female, no matter the winner will, cause a huge amount of visual discontent among viewers as no one wants to see a man knocking unconscious a woman with an uppercut. This would send a terrible message about violence against women and would be extremely unpopular and subject to large numbers of complaints. Subjecting women to such violence in these sports, even if the women in question puts up a good fight, will as a result of the sensitivity of many towards this kind of violence decrease the popularity and thrill of these otherwise extremely exciting sports.
This could simply swap inequalities around

Despite the fact that gender equality in sports often comes as an argument for applying this motion, it is rather the other way round. If indeed it is so important to let women compete in men’s leagues, on what ground do we ban men from competing in women’s leagues? If we look at it from the point of equality, it would be only normal that if women are equal to men, men are equal to women, and if females can move from one league to another, so should males. Either option we choose, there are negative consequences that follow. On one hand, if men are not allowed to migrate from one league to another, this whole plan will have a boomerang effect as it won’t resolve gender discrimination, it will only switch the discriminated gender. There is no basis on which males should be denied this advantage. On the other hand, if we do allow them to compete in women’s leagues, there won’t be male and female leagues, there will be two male leagues, as unfortunately, just as women won’t win many medals in the men’s leagues so men are much more likely to win in the women’s. As a result, female leagues would be destroyed if men are allowed to compete in them. Therefore, due to the consequences brought by any of the options, this proposal is undoubtedly damaging for sports.
Athletes should decide for themselves.

First and foremost, it is very important to realize that the desire to take part in men’s sporting competitions must be backed up by physical capabilities of women to be able to win against men. Unfortunately, if we look at statistics we realize how big the gap between the two sexes is: “Michael Phelps is a full 26 seconds ahead of the women's world record holder in a 400m medley, the best female is more than 10% behind the best male - 12 minutes in a marathon (and 20 for most of the top women at the moment), more than 1 second in a 100m race, more than 1 meter in the long jump.” (1) Thus, the states purpose of sports, that of “let the best person win” is already being achieved, as, sadly, in a wide majority of cases men, due to their physical attributes, do perform better. Promoting performance is not the only purpose of sports; another should be promoting gender equality. This measure, due to the wide physical gap between the two sexes, would simply perpetuate ideas that women are not equal.  It doesn’t matter that there will be a few examples of women who managed to succeed, as these will be overshadowed by the significant majority of female athletes who won’t. A world in which gender equality is promoted, but where not every competition is being won by the best athlete is more desirable than one in which discrimination is perpetuated but you make sure that “the best one wins”.  (1) Sports Scientists, April 15, 2010 http://www.sportsscientists.com/2010/04/let-male-and-female-compete-together.html
Preventing discrimination in sport

On this level, we have two situations. On one hand, there are a lot of sports where women and men receive equal media coverage and monetary rewards starting from athletics, where at the world championships the gold medal winner is rewarded the same, no matter of sex(1) and ending with tennis, where for example at the US Open, one of the 4 biggest tennis tournaments of the year, both the male and female winners receive the same amount of money. On this level, we see that there is absolutely no discrimination whatsoever. (2)The fact that women play fewer sets is by no means a form of discrimination as we can see that, at the end of the day, they get the same amount of money and equal, if not more, publicity than the male tennis players. On the other hand, there are sports, like soccer, basketball or cycling where women simply don’t have the necessary physical requirements for example to shoot a goal from 40m away, thus making a female soccer match less thrilling than one played by males. Women will never have the possibility to win these competitions, thus there will be no monetary or media coverage advantages for them of competing in the same league as men. It is better for them to be the best at a smaller tournament than to be the last at a bigger one. For example, Caster Semenya who won gold in the women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships with a time of 1:55.45 in the final would not have even qualified for the men’s final, in which the worst time was 1:47.80.(3) (1) Jamaica Observer, August 07, 2013 http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Over-US-7m-in-prize-money-at-World-Champs (2) US Open Official Site 2013, http://www.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/prizemoney.html (3) Eric Vilain “Gender Testing for Athletes Remains a Tough Call”, New York Times, June 18, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/sports/olympics/the-line-between-male-and-female-athletes-how-to-decide.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Encouraging future female athletes

First of all, sports are one of the most popular and promoted activities for young girls around the world, they receive advice to practice sports from a wide variety of sources: parents, friends, school teachers, etc. There isn’t a lack of motivation on their part on this level, especially as there are a lot of female sporting competitions that get a lot of media coverage: volleyball, handball, swimming, ice skating, etc. This measure will actually discourage teenage girls from practicing sports on a professional level. Due to the huge gap in physical strength most of the female athletes will only get defeated in these competitions with men. Seeing these so called “role models” getting beaten at, for example, every single soccer match reduces the chances of girls wanting to enrol in this type of activity as they will see the competition being too powerful, diminishing the possibilities of ever winning a competition. You need to show them that it is possible for them to win, and that’s why you need Serena Williams to win so many Grand Slam Tournaments, that’s why you need Alexandra do Nascimento to be named Best Female Handball Player of the Year and that’s why you need to separate the sexes in sporting competitions.(1) (1) Wikipedia, 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHF_World_Player_of_the_Year#Women