Archive

Unions Rally For May Day

Posted 10:31am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Union flags filled Union Hall last Friday (lol), as around 150 workers, students, and organisers gathered to mark May Day (also known as International Workers’ Day). The hui brought together a wide cross-section of unions — from nurses and firefighters to supermarket workers and Read more...

Palo Alto Partnership Under “Review”

Posted 10:28am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Hanna Varrs

What Happened? As previously reported, the University of Otago has confirmed a partnership with Palo Alto Networks (PANW), a cybersecurity company that has been accused of having “deep links to the Israeli government” by Otago Staff for Palestine (OSP). The partnership is intended to Read more...

Local Produce: Emily Esplin

Posted 10:24am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Maea Wikohika

Emily Esplin (she/they) is an emerging Ōtepoti artist carving out a sound that feels raw, honest, and distinctly their own. Her music sits somewhere between vulnerability and distortion, a space where soft introspection collides with an ever-growing rock influence. She’s also Read more...

Leary’s Theory for Better Mental Health Services

Posted 10:19am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Harry Almey

Ingrid Leary, Labour MP of Taieri since 2020, and Labour Spokesperson for Mental Health, recently sat down for her first-ever interview with Critic Te Ārohi. Young people consistently have ranked the mental health crisis and climate change as their top concerns for the future, so Ingrid wants Read more...

North D in Thirty Years: What Will Our Flats Look Like?

Posted 10:18am Sunday 10th May 2026 by Stella Weston

The North Dunedin Spatial Plan Project aims to ensure that there is enough housing for students in North D for the next thirty years. But that’s not just any housing – it’s housing that encapsulates what students want. Novel! Organised by the City Development Team of the Dunedin Read more...

“Stay Petty”: The Subs and Cats Saga

Posted 2:48pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Bella Bates

The drama is bubbling over between two of Dunedin’s biggest players in student nightlife in a TikTok-based standoff. Suburbia (lovingly known to the fresher population as ‘Subs’) took to TikTok with a not-so-subtle jab at rival Catacombs (‘Cats’). Feathers were Read more...

University Trials Partnership With Parking Enforcement Services

Posted 2:45pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Gryffin Blockley

Parking Enforcement Services (PES) have been contracted to conduct a parking enforcement trial at two car parks over the next three months, a University of Otago spokesperson has confirmed to Critic Te Ārohi.  You may recognise PES from major supermarket parking lots in Dunedin, or, if Read more...

Critic Te Ārohi x The Maharajas: Charity Edition

Posted 2:43pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Imogen Perry

Critic Te Ārohi and Dave from The Maharajas: we’ve got a loving history. A match made in heaven, one might say. On Saturday the 9th of May, Dave and the Maharajas team will be hosting the ultimate charity night – good vibes, good flavours, good people. So we’ve taken the Read more...

Crisis Café Opens In North East Valley

Posted 2:41pm Sunday 3rd May 2026 by Harry Almey

It’s another win for wellbeing in Otago, with the South Island's second Crisis Recovery Café opening in the North East Valley. Operated by the Otago Mental Health Support Trust (OMHST), the café shares spaces with the Valley Project. Critic Te Ārohi sat down for an Read more...

Local Produce: Rheumy

Posted 1:35pm Sunday 26th April 2026 by Ethan Montañer

Rheumy are a self-described “kosmiche noise group” who materialised into Ōtepoti’s music scene in early 2025. The trio create compositions that can be difficult to pin down with descriptions — the music is somehow free-form yet intentional, rhythmic yet droning — Read more...