Archive

Shitty health decisions

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

The Ministry of Health is in the firing line of Otago professors due to its reluctance to introduce a bowel cancer-screening pilot programme nationwide, despite the programme’s proven success. University of Otago health services researcher Dr Sarah Derrett, also on the Board of the patient- Read more...

Radio 45,000

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

OUSA announced $45,000 capital expenditure plans for Radio One’s technical equipment last Wednesday. OUSA President Francisco Hernandez told Dunedin Television, “it is a big vote of confidence in the future of Radio One as it approaches its 30th birthday. “Research shows the Read more...

Budget 2013: Nothing new for impoverished students

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

It appears the National Party is waiting until election year 2014 to give New Zealand’s domestic tertiary students any excitement in the Government’s annual Budget. Student allowances will continue to exist only for younger students and people studying for their first degrees. Students aged Read more...

Daft punks ignore Daft Punk suggestion

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

OUSA has met a suggestion that it underwrite a Daft Punk gig with a mix of excitement, caution and derision. Radio One station manager Sean Norling’s spontaneous idea was emailed to Daft Punk’s agent Richard de la Font on Sunday evening. Norling, who has so far received an auto-reply from de Read more...

Debating Society refrain from debating their privilege

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

University of Otago Vice Chancellor Prof. Harlene Hayne has provided a $25,000 grant to the Otago University Debating Society (OUDS). In a letter to OUDS president Paul Hunt, Hayne recognised the society’s recent “international exposure … putting Otago on the world stage as a top ranking Read more...

Ghosts write essays for cash

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Thomas Raethel

A nationwide made-to-order web-based essay service marketed primarily towards Chinese students has been uncovered. Assignment4U is registered with a New Zealand domain name, and markets itself as an “academic advisory” service. A 1,500-word essay ordered by Fairfax Media last week cost $270, Read more...

South Dunedin pimps pimp

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Claudia Herron

An elderly gentleman from South Dunedin has been outed as a “pimp” by the Otago Daily Times after a popular YouTube video inspired them to publish an article about the man’s “pimped out” mobility scooter. While the aged hustler is far from making coin from the South Dunedin hunnies, the ODT Read more...

Whare Krishna

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Claudia Herron

The Hare Krishna community in Dunedin has been gifted a house to call their spiritual home thanks to a gracious donation from one of the group’s members. At the end of this year, 133 London Street will become the new Dunedin Hare Krishna Cultural Centre. Hare Krishna member Jane Beecroft Read more...

OUSA to break world record by inventing it

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

OUSA’s events department last week announced part of the line-up for their Re-Orientation Week events. The night of Wednesday 10 July will see Forsyth Barr Stadium hosting the world’s largest ever paint fight, and Shapeshifter will perform in the Town Hall on Saturday 13 July. On track for Read more...

Recreation Centre facelift lacks actual lift

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

OUSA’s $1.7 million renovation of its Recreation Centre building (formerly Clubs and Socs) is set to give students a more modern, functional space for activities. However, one of its services will remain off-limits to some disabled students. After a consultation process including user surveys Read more...

Ferguson finally fucks off

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Sam McChesney

The big news in sport over the last week has been the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. We’ve been here before – Ferguson announced his retirement at the start of 2002 only to perform a U-turn at the end of the season – but this time it’s for realsies. Ferguson’s Read more...

Police render point-proving tactics irrelephant

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Staff Reporter

An elephant was discovered in the Critic office last Thursday. The elephant appeared in the room while the Critic staff were writing that week’s news. It is unclear what the elephant’s motives were. The elephant was eventually removed by the police, and has declined to comment on the incident. Read more...

ODT exposes exposer

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

Last Tuesday 7 May, the ODT published their best article of the year. Entitled “Dunedin teen shakes bare bottom at police,” the 64-word piece exposes a 17-year-old Dunedin man who “allegedly [shook] his bare bottom at police officers while standing in the middle of Eglinton Rd.” Here, Critic aims to Read more...

Justice Davani

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Claudia Herron

The 17th New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address was given by Justice Catherine Davani, of the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court, on 8 May. Her thought-provoking talk in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery touched on the pressure to repeal sorcery laws in PNG. A recent, Read more...

Government throws more money at research

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Otago University is hoping to get their hands on a chunk of the Government’s $73.5 million budget for research purposes following the announcement of 10 National Science Challenges. The budget was announced on 1 May by John Key and will be added to last year’s $60 million budget to fund these Read more...

A degree from Otago might just get you a job

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

The 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject have been released, with Otago ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world in 12 subject areas. Psychology, History and Archaeology, English Language and Literature, and Law also placed in the top 50. Professor Harlene Hayne, Vice Read more...

Cardboard swords slay selwyn’s hordes

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Selwyn College’s residents flogged one of their favourite dead horses last Wednesday afternoon when they took over the Clocktower lawn for the annual Lindski Battle. A dozen ex-residents were pitted against more than 100 Selwyn “knights” and “nurses” in the annual pacifist skirmish. The Read more...

Dunedin – New Zealand’s Detroit

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Jamie Breen

Students are to Dunedin what Instagram is to a tween: #important. Or, as the ODT wittily put it, Dunedin is New Zealand’s Detroit, if postgraduate and international student numbers are compared to car manufacturers: lose them and the economy loses, too. University of Otago lecturer Paul Read more...

Lama drama harms Cull’s karma

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has retracted what he calls a “dismissive and unnecessary slight” he made against the Dalai Lama, but still will not meet him when he visits Dunedin on 11 June. After describing the Lama as “the leader of a minority sect” last week, Cull now says that the community Read more...

World record attempts

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Otago University students are in the running to break 10 world records during Re-Orientation Week at an event organised by OUSA. Students who are interested in breaking records have submitted their record idea to OUSA, who have then gone on to co-ordinate with Guinness World Records. So far, Read more...

Too many cats hanging out at Murray’s

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

At least six pet cats have been found dead, some hung from trees, at Navy Park in South Dunedin. The ongoing suspicious deaths have occurred since December 2012, with the latest cat being found on Saturday 27 April of this year. Senior Constable Ruth Parsons says, “We’ve had this sort of Read more...

The Wicked Witches of Union Street East

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Abby Howells (Left) and Caitlin McNaughton (Right) are directing 2013’s Wizard of Oz-themed Capping Show, which kicks off this Wednesday. Bella Macdonald interviewed them during one of their nightly rehearsals. What do you see as the purpose of the Capping Show? Caitlin: I guess it was Read more...

“Everyone a winner at Uni Games”

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Gus Gawn

Team Otago reclaimed the University Shield at the Uni Games held in Dunedin two weeks ago. Otago boasted the largest team at the 2013 event with 142 competitors, and made their numerical advantage count by collecting the most points and taking out the shield. Prior to the games it had been Read more...

Ex-Critic editor puts up pointless, doomed bill

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Green Party list MP Holly Walker has introduced a Private Member’s Bill for the next ballot at Parliament, which aims to reinstate student allowances for postgraduate students. However, with little hope of majority support, the bill appears to be purely symbolic. In 2012, the government Read more...

Shit students help students in the shit

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

Figures recently released by the University of Otago show that misconduct cost students $14,860 in 2012. This is up 40% from 2011, when total fines issued by the Proctor were $10,670 for the year. The increase has occurred despite a decrease in the number of misbehaving students from 136 in 2011 to Read more...

He’s Dunne it again

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Claudia Herron

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has come out of leftfield and banned a further two substances, both found in the popular synthetic cannabis brand K2. The totally unprecedented move by Dunne will see a Temporary Class Drug Notice issued on BB-22 and 5F-AKB48, bringing the total number of Read more...

Colmar Brunton says 80% of students keen to work for free

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Thomas Raethel

Student Job Search is set to introduce a trial “unpaid” section from June this year, after widespread enthusiasm for volunteer work was expressed by students around the country. A Colmar Brunton poll commissioned by Studylink last year revealed that 80% of students interviewed expressed interest in Read more...

Apps to make sad kids ‘appy

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

A texting blob, a digital bin in which to put feelings, and a site full of videos to cheer kids up won the Dunedin round of the Lifehack competition last Sunday evening. Lifehack (not to be confused with the website explaining how to “Make Your Own Fresh Home Fragrances”) is an organisation that the Read more...

Critic culls Cull

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Zane Pocock

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has refused to partake in a debate with legal high lobbyist Grant Hall after calling for consumers to boycott businesses that sell synthetic cannabis products. While defending his position, Cull alluded to a fear that his opponent-to-be had been “imbibing a bit much,” in a Read more...

Selwyn Ballet to thrill audiences for 86th year running

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Callum Fredric

Capping Show audiences are once again set for five minutes of top-quality entertainment at the end of the first half of the show, as the Selwyn Ballet makes its 86th appearance. The ballet’s distinctive humour comes from the visual juxtaposition between short-haired, rugby-loving young men Read more...

We’re off to see the wizard

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Jamie Breen

The legendary University of Otago Capping Show will kick off on Wednesday. This year sees the 119th iteration of the world’s second-longest-running (and longest continually running) Capping Revue. For all you freshers out there, allow Critic to educate you. The Capping Show, a yearly event, Read more...

A Lord-to-Lord chat with Christopher Monckton

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Callum Fredric

Lord Christopher Monckton is arguably the world’s most prominent climate change skeptic. He talks to Critic about NZ universities, Generation Zero, and whether he’s actually a Lord. You’re speaking in Gore tomorrow. Are small towns worth your time to attend? It’s always an enormous Read more...

Lord Monckton

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Callum Fredric

Prominent climate change skeptic Lord Christopher Monckton gave two presentations in Dunedin last week, in which he argued that the dangers of human-induced climate change had been greatly exaggerated and that scientists had deliberately tampered with climate data in order to show increasing global Read more...

Lord Monckton | The Eagle's Take

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Eagle of Liberty

The Eagle wrote “The Eagle Denies Climate Change” in Critic back in 2011, and two years later socialists are still rabbiting on about global warming, polar bears, and how taxing dem evil multinational corporations will solve the world’s problems. Thankfully, the Eagle’s liberty-loving friend Lord Read more...

Lord Monckton | The Salamander's Take

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Salamander of Science

So, I want to get something pretty clear. Lord Christopher Monckton is crazy. Not some kind of acceptable/eccentric crazy, but the kind of legitimately crazy that goes on record saying “we should lock up all people with HIV/AIDS,” and “the United Nations is secretly planning to kill 90 per cent of Read more...

Bohm Chicka Wow Wow

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Thomas Raethel

The widow of a Dunedin antiques dealer has been ordered to pay AU$225,000 (NZ$275,000) to her dead husband’s paramour (the illicit partner of a married person). As the sole beneficiary in Anthony Francis Bohm’s childless will, Winifred Lorraine Bohm inherited the entirety of his $3 million Read more...

Solution: Legalise Reefer

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Dunedin dairy owners have recently been arming themselves with machetes, mallets and large wooden sticks as self-protection, after a series of aggravated robberies in which synthetic cannabis has been stolen. Police have been trying to encourage worried dairy owners to take the product off Read more...

Your TV is fucked

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Zane Pocock

The long-awaited digital switchover occurred on Sunday 28 April, which is why your old TV probably stopped working this weekend as New Zealand’s old analogue TV network was switched off. The switchover suddenly renders thousands of TVs obsolete, raising several environmental concerns. Read more...

The 2013 Uni Games Preliminary Results

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Irrelevant Irvine

The University of Otago has won the Best University Shield by a significant margin over Canterbury at the 2013 Uni Games. Otago teams also won the Badminton, Netball and Touch Rugby finals. The other winners were Massey Albany in Basketball, Auckland University in Men’s Hockey, AUT in Read more...

Uni buys the wrong Castle Street

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Bella Macdonald

The University of Otago has purchased a 128-room hotel on Castle Street South, to be converted into high-quality student accommodation. Otago Polytechnic concurrently announced $20 million plans to build a hostel and atrium. The hotel the University has purchased, formerly called LivingSpace, Read more...

Local bands battle over $400 cash money

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Zane Pocock

OUSA’s 25th annual Battle of the Bands kicks off at 8pm this Friday 3 May at Refuel. The door charge is $2 for the weekly Friday night heats and $5 for the finals night, which will be held Saturday 25 May. OUSA Events Coordinator Jason Schroeder said “tracing its roots back to its inception Read more...

Aerosmith

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013 by Claudia Herron

Old Rockers Aerosmith proved they’re still Living on the Edge last Thursday evening, after more than 20,000 loyal bogans descended on Forsyth Barr Stadium for their first ever New Zealand concert. Playing all their big hits including “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing”, “Dream On”, “Jaded”, and “Love in Read more...

QR Codes

Posted 7:48pm Wednesday 24th April 2013 by Staff Reporter

QR Codes will never be a thing. Don’t scan them, and don’t enable the companies that try to make them into a thing. That is all. Read more...

Victoria Uni teaches students how to rort the system

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Callum Fredric

Victoria University of Wellington appears to have rorted its way to the top of the university research rankings, which were published last week. Victoria came top in two of the four measures, including the coveted award for having the highest average quality of research per staff member Read more...

Alcohol Implementation Group Meeting

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Last year University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne initiated an “Alcohol Implementation Working Group,” chaired by the staunchly anti-alcohol Professor Jennie Connor, to research and take action on ways that alcohol-related harm could be reduced among students. Critic has gained Read more...

Drug dealers lose a significant portion of their clientele

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Baz Macdonald

In a crushing blow to the legalise cannabis movement, new legislation passed on 9 April will require beneficiaries to undergo drug testing when looking for employment from June this year. A 2008 Ministry of Health study showed that those on the benefit are three times more likely to be weed Read more...

Eva Lavi

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Claudia Herron

“My name is Eva Lavi. I was born in Poland in Krakow, and I was two years old when the war started.” Last Wednesday evening, Eva Lavi shared her incredible story of Holocaust survival. Nearly 600 people crammed into the Colquhoun Lecture Theatre, well exceeding its usual 312-person Read more...

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Zane Pocock

Louisa Wall’s Marriage Amendment Bill passed its third and final reading in Parliament Wednesday night by a landslide 77-44 votes. OUSA President Francisco Hernandez told Critic, “You’re not going to get a different take from me. I’m just going to circle-jerk the liberal-left celebration.” Read more...

Otago: Too Big To Fail?

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Zane Pocock

Figures revealed at the University’s 9 April council meeting show student enrolments “running some 2.3% down on the equivalent point last year,” despite first-year domestic enrolments at Otago increasing by 2.9%. Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne expressed particular concern at the large drop in Read more...

Insert Plagiarised Headline

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013 by Claudia Herron

Stashing exam notes in the toilet and posting computer science code on an online forum were among the 45 cases of dishonest practice that Otago students were reported for in 2012. The Annual Discipline Report shows that of these 45 cases, 17 stemmed from the Commerce Department, 15 from the Read more...