My Summer in Corporate Purgatory

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013

On Thursday, the big law firms will make offers of summer internships to students across the country. Callum Fredric gives the young clerks-to-be an unglamourised account of what a summer in a top-four law firm is actually like. Congratulations, aspiring summer clerks. On Thursday, you’ll Read more...

Selwyn Ballet to thrill audiences for 86th year running

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013

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...

Editorial | Issue 10

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013

IntroductionLast year, the Ministry of Social Development released its flagship White Paper for Vulnerable Children, containing a raft of recommendations for protecting New Zealand children who are at risk of poverty, neglect, and abuse. Now, the Ministry of Misopedia has been tasked with a Read more...

A Lord-to-Lord chat with Christopher Monckton

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013

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...

Baby Boom and Bust

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013

With a readership of 269,000, the Listener is New Zealand’s most widely-read current affairs magazine – but it’s also the home of three tragically in-decline columnists. Callum Fredric and Maddy Phillipps document the writers’ undignified transformation into commentators both one-note and off-key. Read more...

Lord Monckton

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013

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...

Editorial | Issue 09

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013

As you may have noticed, the cover of this week’s Critic is adorned with the mugshot of a criminal. He probably stole some pharmaceuticals. Damn that’s a smooth segue. Let’s talk pharmaceuticals. Not in the context of ranting about Big Pharma and how they’re conspiring to get the world Read more...

Failient | Issue 08

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013

The title of this week’s Salient was “Offensive?” The answer was a resounding “No.” Nothing in this issue offended anyone. Attached is a list of mild, inoffensive content: 1) Crass sexual jokes about Christians, specifically: nuns. About as edgy as ripping out Rebecca Black or the Westboro Read more...

Victoria Uni teaches students how to rort the system

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013

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...

Editorial | Issue 08

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013

8.30am – Arrived at Allpress for all-important coffee. Refused to reveal who wrote the “Cutest Barista in the World” letter in Issue 06. Critic always protects its sources. 9am – Downed some beers and novelty shots outside Leith Liquor with the Critic team to “take the edge off.” Read more...