Archive

Matters Of Debate | Issue 1

Posted 2:12pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Otago University Debating Society

This column is written by the Otago University Debating Society, which meets for socail debating every Tuesday at 6pm in the Commerce Building. Affirmative, by Old Major Why should we accept more refugees you might ask? Charity begins at home you might say. The government should be feeding Read more...

The Weekly Doubt | Issue 1

Posted 2:06pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Wee Doubt

Of all the strange things I encounter in indulging my love and hate of alternative ideas, the placebo effect is the strangest. A guest writer covered this last year but I wanted to revisit it to hammer home just how weird the placebo effect is. What marks the placebo effect out from other wacky Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 1

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Student Support

Dear Ethel, How can we get last year’s bond back? Our landlord from last year won’t answer any of our texts. So broke for Ori. Can’t wait for course related costs… -Cut My Bonds Dear Cut My Bonds, It sounds like you’re all still together this year, which makes Read more...

David Clark | Issue 1

Posted 1:48pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by David Clark

I enjoy life on campus, and all that goes with it.  I wouldn’t have spent so many years as a student here otherwise. Nor would I have returned to take up my previous job as the head of a residential College.  Otago University has been very good to me. One of the best bits about Read more...

Editorial | Issue 1

Posted 10:42am Sunday 28th February 2016 by Hugh Baird

Come late February, there’s no better smell throughout North Dunedin than burning couches and stale alcohol. It tugs at my heartstrings in a similar way to fresh cut lawns in spring, or pine trees at Christmas. It can mean only one thing, that the academic year has began and the students are Read more...

Love is Blind | Issue 26

Posted 3:51pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Lovebirds

Critic’s infamous blind date column brings you weekly shutdowns, hilariously mismatched pairs, and the occasional hookup. Each week, we lure two singletons to Di Lusso, ply them with food and alcohol, then wait for their reports to arrive in our inbox. If this sounds like you, Read more...

From the Back of the Class | Issue 26

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Finbarr Noble

On 20 May 1861, Gabriel Read, a lonesome prospector, tried his luck in a gully near modern Lawrence. Heaving away the gravel, he exposed the creek bed and saw, in his words (poetic for an itinerant gold miner), “gold shining like the stars of Orion on a dark, frosty night”. This Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 26

Posted 3:46pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Student Support

Dear Ethel, What’s the story if I can’t sit an exam? My dad recently had an accident and is in intensive care. It looks like I may have to go home to be with him if things get any worse. I’m worried that I’m going to miss my exams. If I have to go home and miss exams, what Read more...

Something Came Up | Issue 26

Posted 3:44pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Isa Alchemist

Back in the day when I was a student, things were different. There were no student loans and if you were from a non-university town, your boarding allowance paid all the hostel fees. Bursary was the icing on the cake. Our class was infamous for its bad behaviour. We threw darts, and shouted abuse. I Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 26

Posted 3:42pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Sam Fraser-Baxter

Last time, I argued that the most urgent environmental issue confronting us lies in the environmental perceptions and values we hold today. While global warming, species extinction or deforestation may lead to the eventual collapse of the earth’s ability to sustainably support life, skewed Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 26

Posted 3:40pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Wee Doubt

This morning a friend sent me a link to an article called “Bad Diet the Number One Cause of ADHD”. The author claims food colouring causes ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in children and that the condition does not exist in countries that do not use the dyes. I Read more...

David Clark | Issue 26

Posted 3:38pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by David Clark

Many of you will be preparing for exams. Good luck! After that come some fond farewells, summer and new challenges. Some of you will be flatting for the first time in the New Year. Some of you will be starting new courses. Some of you will be entering the job market. Whatever the change, I Read more...

Editorial | Issue 26

Posted 10:37am Sunday 4th October 2015 by Josie Cochrane

That’s a wrap! 26 issues, several bizarre dramas, and many all-nighters later, we’ve done it.  Looking back on old issues from the last 90 years, there’s been some damn cool stuff Critic has covered — from the Springboks tour to discussing mixed flatting to Read more...

Love is Blind | Issue 25

Posted 2:34pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Lovebirds

Critic’s infamous blind date column brings you weekly shutdowns, hilariously mismatched pairs, and the occasional hookup. Each week, we lure two singletons to Di Lusso, ply them with food and alcohol, then wait for their reports to arrive in our inbox. If this sounds like you, Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 24

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Steph Taylor

If you haven’t heard, the uni has a new proctor scoping the campus out. Having served in Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands will no doubt prepare him for the battleground of Castle Street. A British court has convicted a man of plotting a chemical attack and planning to kill Prince Read more...

From the Back of the Class | Issue 25

Posted 2:17pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Finbarr Noble

A head of one of the world’s many religions died in the last fortnight with little international fanfare. Max Gesner Beauvoir was the spiritual leader of Haiti’s voodoo faith, a biochemist as well as a voodooist. Beauvoir became the Supreme Servitur in 2008.  Voodoo originated in Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 25

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Sam Fraser-Baxter

People often ponder what is the most urgent environmental issue confronting us. Is it climate change, species extinction or human overpopulation? The answer could be any of these. It is hard to predict which environmental issue may lead to an irreversible collapse in the planet’s Read more...

Something Came Up | Issue 25

Posted 2:11pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Isa Alchemist

The exam cycle is coming around again — following closely will be a nudge up in the average level of stress throughout North Dunedin. It seems like two out of every three students have that haunted look, as if the grim invigilator is two steps behind them (and the third just hasn’t Read more...

Unzipping the Myths | Issue 25

Posted 2:04pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by T. Antric

80 percent of all sexually active adults will get an sexually transmitted disease (STI) at some point in their lives. STIs are stigmatised and shamed, which simply contributes to them being spread more. Having an STI is not a death sentence or something to be ashamed of, but they can be quite Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 25

Posted 2:02pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Wee Doubt

Conservatives are a bunch of meat-eating, game-hunting, tax-decreasing, hard-drinking, Bible-bashing, black-and-white-thinking, immigration-hating, oil-fracking-loving, morally dogmatic philistines. Liberals are a bunch of bike-riding, tree-hugging, whale-saving, big-government-promoting, Read more...