Archive

Sceptic Schism | Issue 23

Posted 2:11pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Wee Doubt

What’s the grossest thing you would do for attention and money? Go on a reality TV show? Film a sex tape? Marry Donald Trump? In Victorian Britain, there was a type of con-artist and liar willing to do something grosser than any of that. They were the “mediums”, and they took Read more...

David Clark | Issue 23

Posted 2:09pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by David Clark

I find it heart-breaking that New Zealand was so slow to welcome Syrian refugees escaping the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII. Our existing refugee quota of 750 per annum has been in place for decades, and places us 87th in the world for generosity of welcome. When I was a schoolboy, Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 23

Posted 2:06pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Student Support

Dear Ethel, We’re really worried about one of our flatmates. His drinking is out of control. We all like a bit of a good time, but we can’t remember the last time he wasn’t drunk. He drinks every night and is often passed out on the sofa in the morning. He’s not himself Read more...

Editorial | Issue 23

Posted 10:25am Sunday 13th September 2015 by Josie Cochrane

It’s not often a vacancy comes up for an epic job that will be the coolest and the most challenging role you undertake in your life. There aren’t many jobs where you can say you’ve edited a magazine, produced 30 publications, managed a department and overseen the work of nearly 200 Read more...

Love is Blind | Issue 22

Posted 3:33pm Sunday 6th 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 22

Posted 3:29pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Steph Taylor

Apparently not just a kids’ party game, but something Queenstown councillors love to do when they can’t secure office premises. What do you get when you mix curling in Naseby and a couple of Czechs? A delightful introduction to the lip-smackingly good dessert known as Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 22

Posted 3:20pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Student Support

Dear Ethel, A couple of months ago, I got a job as a kitchen hand and was told that I would be rostered between 10 and 12 hours per week. The first two weeks were OK, but then someone left and I got rostered on for 20 hours. When I said I couldn’t do those hours, my boss said I had signed a Read more...

From the Back of the Class | Issue 22

Posted 3:16pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Finbarr Noble

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymede on the banks of the Thames in 1215 AD. If somehow this momentous occasion has slipped your mind, here’s a recap.  The Magna Carta was essentially a peace treaty between the barons and “Bad” Read more...

Something Came Up | Issue 22

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Isa Alchemist

Spring is here and, despite the cold weather, the spring flowers are coming up. Along with spring comes the familiar story of blocked or runny noses, sneezing, sore and itchy eyes and maybe a headache. When we suggest that the culprit is hayfever and not a cold or whatever has laid low your Read more...

David Clark | Issue 22

Posted 3:10pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by David Clark

Student politics was lively when I was studying on campus. It was the early days of student loans and sentiment ran high. Memorably, one protestor threw himself under Education Minister Lockwood Smith’s car on a visit to the university. Grant Robertson — then OUSA president, now Labour Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 22

Posted 3:07pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Wee Doubt

The belief that vitamin C helps with colds and boosts the immune system is so prevalent that probably everybody reading this, including me, has taken a vitamin C tablet in their life. Scurvy is a disease that most people associate with sailors losing teeth from their bleeding gums and is caused Read more...

Unzipping the Myths | Issue 22

Posted 3:04pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by T. Antric

Fifty Shades of Grey is a terribly written, (inexplicably) terribly popular book series, originally created as fanfiction for a series that featured sparkly vampires. I myself have a few scarves (and ties and jumpers and even a sock) that have been relegated to the graveyard of items of clothing Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 22

Posted 3:01pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Sam Fraser-Baxter

Could robots take over? Should we fear a world where robots are smarter than humans? As we moved into the twenty-first century, the world became increasingly digitalised, mirroring fictional visions of the future with robots, instant communication and information sharing. Will the machines we Read more...

Editorial | Issue 22

Posted 10:27am Sunday 6th September 2015 by Josie Cochrane

The United Nations Refugee Agency has recorded 52 million persons of concern this year, the highest number since World War II. New Zealand hasn’t changed its cap of 750 refugees per year in 26 years and per capita, New Zealand is 90th in the world for the number of refugees we admit. The Read more...

Love is Blind | Issue 21

Posted 2:48pm Sunday 30th August 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 21

Posted 2:41pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Steph Taylor

Not the greatest idea to steal your sister’s child and claim that he’s yours while going through customs. Apparently to get a letter from the Queen, it’s as easy as sending an average drawing of the Queen. Perhaps I’ll start sending in my colouring-in Read more...

From the Back of the Class | Issue 21

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Finbarr Noble

Previously in this column there has been cause to celebrate feminists like Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes for their fearless advocacy for the rights of women. But now, I must castigate some of them for their behaviour during the Great War. In August 1914, at the outset of World War One, Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 21

Posted 2:25pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Student Support

Dear Ethel, Help! I had to go to my nana’s funeral up north and I now have absolutely no money left. I’ve already had to borrow money off mum to pay my rent this week, and she doesn’t have much money so I can’t ask for any more. I don’t even have any money for food Read more...

Something Came Up | Issue 21

Posted 2:20pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Isa Alchemist

Campus is great for socialising and making friends, but the large number of students living in close proximity to each other also makes it easier for outbreaks of afflictions to occur. If you’ve got something crawling under your skin, it’s likely to be tiny parasite known as scabies. Read more...

David Clark | Issue 21

Posted 2:16pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by David Clark

As more information has leaked about the highly secretive draft Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, I’ve become more concerned about just what the government wants to sign us up for. Don’t get me wrong, Labour supports free trade. That’s why we signed a free trade agreement with Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 21

Posted 2:14pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Wee Doubt

Colonic irrigation is a process that its proponents claim will remove nonspecific “toxins” from the colon and intestinal tract. Water or other liquids are injected into the colon via a tube inserted into the rectum. It’s basically an enema that goes a lot further up. The idea is to Read more...

Unzipping the Myths | Issue 21

Posted 2:12pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by T. Antric

So you want to have a night of hot, consensual, no-strings-attached sex with a person who you have no intentions of seeing or sleeping with again.  You’ve your lube and your condoms (I hate nagging, but I will nag people to wear condoms with their one night stands until the day I die. Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 21

Posted 2:09pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Sam Fraser

Are humans really as smart as we think we are? In a generally safe, urbanised and scientific world, one might argue that we are now rational, and act upon reason. Sophocles, an ancient Greek playwright, wrote “reason is God’s crowning gift to man”. Sophocles believed that Read more...

Editorial | Issue 21

Posted 10:23am Sunday 30th August 2015 by Josie Cochrane

Welcome back to the final hill of the year! Keep chugging along cause the break is nearly here — ya know, that time when you can stop thinking about study and exams. Instead, you can start stressing about going from hardly any money each week to no income, no job and no idea where you’re Read more...

Love is Blind | Issue 20

Posted 2:55pm Sunday 16th August 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 20

Posted 2:49pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by Finbarr Noble

If you have been paying even cursory attention to your Facebook newsfeed recently, you’ll have  noticed that there’s a thing about a flag coming up and that people have opinions about it. Regardless of the merits (or otherwise) of a $25 million referendum or the value some may Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 20

Posted 2:46pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by Student Support

Dear Ethel, I think we’re in deep shit! We’re in a five-bedroom place, but it’s expensive, so we got another four guys in to help cover the rent. The landlord came around last week to do an inspection and sprung extra beds and extra people in four rooms. He went nuts and is Read more...

Something Came Up | Issue 20

Posted 2:43pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by Isa Alchemist

They can come in all sizes, colours and flavours (in theory). Funded versions ($5 on a prescription from a doctor) include coloured, flavoured and gradations of sizes — whether they fulfil the extra promises their packaging suggests is another question — apparently the Read more...

David Clark | Issue 20

Posted 2:38pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by David Clark

I was chuffed to receive an invitation to the University of Otago annual Law Revue a few weeks ago. For me, live entertainment with satire that nudges boundaries is an indispensable part of life on campus. It should be celebrated at every opportunity.  Along with its more grandiose Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 20

Posted 2:36pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by Wee Doubt

The internet is full of fake Einstein quotes that people attach to him to make others pay attention. For example, Einstein is famously credited with saying, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination Read more...

Unzipping the Myths | Issue 20

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by T. Antric

You know who I don’t fuck with? I don’t fuck with people who think the number of people a person has slept with has any bearing on their worth as a human being. My sex education was presented to me at 13 years old by a nun at my Catholic, all-girls high school. Presenting two Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 20

Posted 2:25pm Sunday 16th August 2015 by Sam Fraser

Isaac Newton is most famous for his work on the theory on gravity. In 1687, Newton published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which is right up there with Darwin’s Origin of Life as one of the most influential science books ever published. The book laid down Newton’s three Read more...

Editorial | Issue 20

Posted 10:29am Sunday 16th August 2015 by Josie Cochrane

Last week, in a space of 24 hours, Critic was accused of biased storytelling, untrue journalism and “censorship of the student voice”. LOLs, it was one for the journal! The accusations of biased storytelling and untrue journalism came from friends of the executive member called out in Read more...

My Castle, My Flat

Posted 2:50pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Sopsy Malone

This week on My Flat My Castle, we take a look at a group of lads who have taken up residence at the mildly more respectable (if that’s even possible) end of Castle Street. Living in what was previously known as “the cardboard box”, for obvious reasons, the ZETA boys are typical Read more...

David Clark | Issue 19

Posted 2:43pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by David Clark

As a student, I ate a lot of instant noodles. Carbohydrates are cheap. In one flat, we budgeted two packs of spaghetti between four for a meal. Filling, but not too pricey. If we had lentils on top — instead of mince — we could afford a recognisable cut of meat the next night. Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 19

Posted 2:41pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Steph Taylor

Keen for free coffee? Just make sure you’re a breastfeeding mother and you get that all for free at the “Big Latch On”, a breastfeeding event held at the Meridian recently. That niggly old high school friend still bugging you on Facebook? Perhaps it might be better Read more...

Dear Ethel | Issue 19

Posted 2:30pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Student Support

OUSA’s Student Support Centre wants to help you with your issues: from dodgy flatmates to unfair grades, email your questions to ethel@critic.co.nz and she will respond to them for you each week, right here in Critic. Dear Ethel, A couple of months ago, I signed up for a flat with five Read more...

Something Came Up | Issue 19

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Isa Alchemist

They haven’t been crying, cutting onions or smoking weed — but you will want to stay clear once you know what’s actually going on. The current outbreak of bacterial eye infections is causing fiery red eyes and embarrassing encounters throughout campus. The bacteria that cause the Read more...

From the Back of the Class | Issue 19

Posted 2:21pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Finbarr Noble

If, like me, you are an avid reader of the Letters to the Editor page of the ODT, not only will you be aware of middle New Zealand’s almost manic opposition to the concept of a cycle lane but also of another current affair that has the denizens of our fine province all riled up. A few weeks Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 19

Posted 2:18pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Wee Doubt

I magine you buy a new pair of assless rubber underpants (I’m not judging) and you wear them the day that you happen to get your dream job at the waterslide-testing and kitten-cuddling factory. On the same day, you get asked out by the guy from the Old Spice ads, and land a six-digit Read more...

Unzipping the Myths | Issue 19

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by T. Antric

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. A prince won her heart, and they lived happily ever after. For a while, anyway. But it wasn’t long, however, before the prince started pestering the princess for anal. “Everyone is doing it,” he swore. “It feels so much Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 19

Posted 2:13pm Sunday 9th August 2015 by Sam Fraser

Nature is weird. A recent discovery by a Japanese scientist has once again demonstrated this.  After refuting prior knowledge, Masaru Hojo discovered something that could inspire a horror film script: ants that turn into obedient bodyguards after they receive secret signals from their Read more...

Love is Blind | Issue 19

Posted 2:09pm Sunday 9th August 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...

Editorial | Issue 19

Posted 10:16am Sunday 9th August 2015 by Josie Cochrane

After a fairly decent year from the OUSA Executive, students have unfortunately been let down. The education officer recently abused staff at a local family-owned restaurant, and this was during an OUSA Executive BYO dinner. “It was the worst behaviour we’ve seen in twenty years Read more...

From the Back of the Class | Issue 18

Posted 3:36pm Sunday 2nd August 2015 by Finbarr Noble

Having been partly raised in Britain, I might say that we love, and are even proud of, a good defeat. The evacuation from Dunkirk evokes notions of good old British pluck in the face of adversity, the Battle of Rorke’s Drift preceded by the Zulu massacre of 1700 British soldiers got made into Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 18

Posted 3:29pm Sunday 2nd August 2015 by Steph Taylor

Tree huggers unite; the university is killing living things for a new paved area. If you’ve been dying for Uber to hit Dunedin because that $5 taxi ride on Saturday night is starting to hit you in the pocket, you’re out of luck. But they are delivering ice cream as a Read more...

Sceptic Schism | Issue 18

Posted 3:22pm Sunday 2nd August 2015 by Wee Doubt

Natural News, a “health/wellbeing website” has 1.5 million followers on Facebook. Scrolling down their page I see articles on why vaccines are harming us, how avocados can cure leukaemia, and how microwaves eliminate all nutrients from food. Any of these could be the topic of a sceptic Read more...

Unzipping the Myths | Issue 18

Posted 3:20pm Sunday 2nd August 2015 by T. Antric

So there’s this myth right, and it goes something like “your virginity is actually a really big deal”.  Do you know how much bearing your virginity has on your value as a human being? Approximately absolutely none. “Virginity” barely stands up to the weakest Read more...

David Clark | Issue 18

Posted 3:17pm Sunday 2nd August 2015 by David Clark

One of my favourite artists — Ewan McDougall — recently showed me one of his newly completed oil-on-canvas paintings. The painting is entitled “Pretty Relaxed Akshully”. In it, a suited figure smoking a cigar reclines atop a sea of despairing faces. True to Ewan’s Read more...

Science, Bitches | Issue 18

Posted 3:15pm Sunday 2nd August 2015 by Sam Fraser

Following the “shark attack” on Mick Fanning recently at J-Bay, Bruce (the shark) has been frequenting news headlines worldwide. The media, as expected, went nuts on the incident, reporting on pretty much anything they could write about, from the attack itself to Fanning’s Read more...