This will be my last column for 2016. I thought I’d grab the chance to say thank you for your support this year, and to wish you good luck for the long lean summer months without Critic.
Many of you will be working hard over the summer to save enough to survive another year at New Zealand’s finest university. Hopefully you will also find a week or two to recharge your batteries and enjoy something of a break.
Those of you returning next year will get to experience the joys of election year on campus. My regular campus clinics will continue, but as the election comes closer, other MPs will show up too. A plethora of parties will appear on campus seeking to persuade you to give them your vote, and of the merit of their political agendas. My advice is to enjoy it.
Question every visitor about what they’ll do for students, how they’ll fund their pledges, and how their promises align with the fundamental values of their party. You will find the answers entertaining, if occasionally only for the contortions they contain.
Ask them about climate change, and their plan for addressing intergenerational issues. Ask them about education and student debt. Ask them about inequalities and social mobility. Ask them what they do for fun.
While we’re on politics, my congratulations to incoming OUSA President Hugh Baird. It has been a pleasure working with you this year Hugh, and I look forward to working with you next year in your new role. I’m sure those of your team staying on at Critic will keep you honest with their own unique brand of fresh, fearless and persistent pursuit for truth!
So, best wishes for exams and good luck for the summer ahead. If you’re hanging around Dunedin over summer months, I may bump into you on campus or in the Rob Roy ice cream queue. If not, and you have something you want me to be thinking about, come by my Albany Street office and say ‘Hi!’