I wouldn't have thought it hard to get a debate going - take a leaf out of the book from some other posters who have no problem in picking an argument over very little. I like to imagine that they have huge rows with their reflection every morning.

There are various ways of instigating debate;
one is to say something completely controversial and act as devils advocate, a little bit naughty as it sometimes involves deliberately and knowingly winding someone up;
the other is to set something up more formally a la debating societies, ie this house believes blah, blah and blah, etc etc etc. As you can see I'm doing the English language proud here, but hopefully someone can fill in the gaps.....

'Debating' however is both an art and a skill that is rarely found these days as personally I find that people have too little time to spend sitting discussing things with other people and too often promising starts end in petty bickering a al Hilary and Barack . However a good debate is very challenging and makes the most of the very underutilised English Language. And as we know, language = power. Are there any debating societies in existence outside the Oxford Union?