Rethinking your Drinking

Posted 12:25pm Sunday 17th September 2017

Zane Pocock is a former Critic editor and the COO of Hello Sunday Morning, a charity that develops campaigns and technology to help people change their relationship with alcohol.   In the past year, much has been made of improving behaviour in the student quarter. Couches have enjoyed a Read more...

Editorial | Issue 27

Posted 11:58pm Sunday 12th October 2014

The title says it all: due to the complete exhaustion that follows the constant sprint that is producing Critic every week, I genuinely wish this final editorial were a fluff piece. But thanks to a seemingly indestructible rape culture in our country, it seems unjust to waste an opportunity to Read more...

Editorial | Issue 26

Posted 1:49pm Sunday 5th October 2014

With letters flooding in to Critic, it is high time to address the feature “Call Me Crazy,” published in Critic Issue 24 (22 September). Before I go on, if I’m honest with myself, there is a balance in my opinion here. On one hand, without the benefit of hindsight, I would likely have Read more...

Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival - Critic's pick of the crop

Posted 2:58pm Sunday 28th September 2014

This Saturday 4 October welcomes back the Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival, organised by OUSA. Bridging town and gown, there’s something for everyone – the average Scarfie can (oddly) have their usual Speight’s and drink it too, while the more discerning palate can opt for something a bit more, Read more...

Editorial | Issue 25

Posted 2:58pm Sunday 28th September 2014

In some of the most significant (and rare) space news to reach the public recently, it was revealed that India’s satellite now orbiting Earth’s near neighbour Mars cost the equivalent of only NZ$95 million. Meanwhile, US military spending last year alone cost NZ$804 billion, all the while funds to Read more...

Editorial | Issue 22

Posted 11:52pm Sunday 7th September 2014

Students at Otago are exceptionally lucky this election, considering all of the opportunities they have to be informed before voting. After a couple of speed-humps, Critic and the OUSA NZ General Election Drive have finally launched the website studentvote.co.nz – here you can find a succinct Read more...

Editorial | Issue 21

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014

The great Oil spill of 2014 has spread to the students, with recent email conversations released by the anonymous Twitter account @whaledump indicating a conspiracy by Cameron Slater and his buddy Aaron Bhatnager (who is inextricably tied up in Judith Collins’ latest of many headaches) against an Read more...

Editorial | Issue 20

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014

It has always intrigued me that you can receive a barely-passing mark for an assignment and have no idea what you did wrong. I recently got such a report back. The “Discussion” section had only ticks – with a mark for the section of 13/30. Yet another section not only had the same saturation of Read more...

Editorial | Issue 19

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014

As reported by the ODT on Friday 1 August, Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis has called for video surveillance of Scarfie-ville to “prevent vandalism.” There is a huge problem with this, and it’s because of how much students have improved their behaviour recently. Largely driven by a Read more...

Interview: Ryan Johnson - Great White Shark Expert

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014

You moved from New Zealand to South Africa to pursue your career looking at the Great White Shark? Well, I was primarily a zoologist and I finished my undergrad work and I suffered from what a lot of Kiwis suffer from – you want to go off and see the big world – but I wanted to carry on with my Read more...