
Power, Grief, and the Making of the Taj Mahal
In 1606, a 15-year-old prince named Khurram returned in the city of Lahore. He did not know that this visit would become a major turning point in his life. For amid the colour and festivities of the Meena Bazaar during Nowruz, Khurram crossed paths with a young girl who would change the fate of

Fun Things to Do at Your Flat #3: Red Cards
This week’s boredom killer is simple, chaotic, and guaranteed to create stories you’ll be hearing about all year: Red Cards. Here’s how it works. Every flatmate (or anyone in the group) gets one “red card.” You can play it at any time, for any reason. When you pull your card, everyone has to drop what they’re doing and commit to whatever you’ve called no questions

Fun things to do at your flat #2 – Library Box
This one isn’t actually at your flat and you don’t need a flat to do it you just need some willing friends and some alcoholic ambition What you need : Method: This is an ideal red card for study week or just whenever you’re bored, it is a good way to be productive, and also get fucked up. The rules are simple: you can’t leave

Revealing Reviews
This gripping, action packed show is one that touches the depth of your soul and reminds you of the importance of found family. It starts off with very high stakes, as the main character is exiled from her highly privileged society by its ruler to gain a larger fellowship. As the first episodes unfold

sonspotter daughter
do I have to tear my brains out do I have to break to remember what broke me do I have to face the broken vase of facts I cant be a plastic bag, sacrificed for turtle’s fad of suicide so I just cry I will be polyethylene, I ‘ll make you miss me,

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? Urgenc-bee
Over the past few years, the word “urgency” has come up a few times in the news. The word invokes a sense of adrenaline, and it’s come up so often that you’d be forgiven for thinking New Zealand Parliament runs under a constant state of panic at a rate of

Old World Tiramisù Blues
What if I was to tell you that there was nothing Italian about the tomatoes in ragu? That there was nothing Indian about the chilies in curry, or anything particularly Irish about potatoes? Before the 1500s, food in Asia, Europe, and Africa (collectively known as the “Old World”) looked verydifferent

The Notesapp
the untouchable warmth barely reaches the very last cells on my fingertips as i reach towards the glowing auburn that whisks with the wind pull back at the rage of heat that surges to attack with its plumes of acrid grey shoving up my nostrils watering eyes that can’t tear from the piles of glowing

Live, Laugh, Linkin Park
The time came where I got to experience the rush of live music once again. Linkin Park came to Auckland for the first time since 2013. After the 2017 passing of the lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, Linkin Park re-formed in 2024 with a new lead singer and drummer – Emily Armstrong from Dead Sara

JUDGING BLIND: YOUNG MARRIAGE
As of February 26th, I have been engaged to my amazing fiancé. We are both 20 years old and have been together for 3 years, we have a house, two dogs, three horses and a plan for our future together. All to say I am so incredibly happy…but a lot of

Superman, Omniman, Homelander, & Nietzche’s Ubermensch
A commentary on Nietzsche’s Ubermensch exemplified through Omni-man, Superman and Homelander If you have not read my previous column some defining is in order. First master vs slave morality, to give a brief yet incomplete summary, Master morality is exemplified in the Melian dialogue “the strong do as they can, the

The Mona Lisa is not that impressive.
At least not for the reasons that most people think. Mona Lisa has often been credited for both her beauty and mystery, unarguably one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous pieces. However, visually, it’s not even one of his more provoking works. I myself am partial to his sketches (even those that remain unfinished) that greatly demonstrate his position as a polymath, rather

Nā te ētita
by Brianna Waka E ngā hau e whā o te ao, nō mai tata, nō mai tawhiti, tae noa mai ki tēnei pito o Nukutawhiti, tēnā koutou, take a photo, tēnā koutou katoa. Mauri ora you magic people sitting with these kupu now. We’re sliding headfirst into the busiest, most

Editorial – Issue 19 2025
By Toby Brockelbank & Mykhaylo Tevkun Stake and Destroy Most of the reason I was stoked on this job was to write about the skate scene, share cool shit I thought was going down in our world of grinds and flips, and convince at least one of you readers to

Editorial – Issue 18 2025
Holding the power of being your opening thoughts to this week’s issue, I am giving you a list of (some of) my favourite films and why you should most definitely watch them (after reading this issue): 1. Juno (2007) This is the best romcom ever, and don’t let the genre romcom

Editorial – Issue 17 2025
When Toby asked me if I’d like to write the editorial for a ‘newspaper’ theme, my first thought – and words – were ‘Yea, sure.’ And then once I’d left the office and was halfway down the motorway, I was thinking to myself… What the fuck will that look like?

Editorial – Issue 16 2025
Ruby I’m a history nerd. A world war junkie. An obsessor of origins. A know-it-all-about-America. Like seriously, I have a permanent space on my arm dedicated to the JFK assassination. I’m constantly seeking historical context; the who, the what, the why. But that’s not what draws me in. It’s not

Editorial – Issue 15 2025
Admit It, Geeks Run The World Geeks, freaks, nerds and tweaks, welcome to Nexus’ Geek Culture, where I’m sure you’ll find something in these pages to tickle your deepest geeky fancies and fantasies. Somewhere in these delectable pages to come, I’m sure you’ll find something that speaks to you, whether

Editorial – Issue 14 2025
Sex n Drugs I’m really excited for this week’s issue as it gives me an opportunity to share my story to people who have or are going through the same thing. Maybe some people can relate, and I can tell you some things I’ve learnt. When I was 12 living

Editorial – Issue 13 2025
The Future Is Female As you flip through the pages of this issue of Nexus, one thing is clear: to celebrate women is to celebrate possibility, perseverance, and the power behind shaping our ever-changing future. Let’s start with something big: dismantling the patriarchy. It’s a term we hear a

Editorial – Issue 12 2025
Love Beyond Borders Two years into my twenties, after a stretch of being single, I found the kind of romance I had only dreamed of. It was sudden, intense, and different from anything I expected. I fell in love for the first time in New York City, abruptly and fervently.

Editorial – 2/09
We’re back! Happy September everyone- I hope you’re ready to get on with the rest of the semester and kick ass with the rest of your uni work. I want to use this space for two things, and I’ll start with a little how-to guide on staying on your game

Editorial – 5/8
Last week was magnificent. It was epic. It was an absolute dream. It was a legendary tale I’ll tell my kids one day. It was *insert every other good adjective*. Why, you ask? Not because of the Olympics, no. But because of you. Shoutout to the readers who manifested for

Editorial – 22/7
A lot has happened in the time between the release of our previous issue and this one. Football didn’t “come home”, Trump is talking about unity, and Daemon Targaryen had an explicit dream about his mum (?). Somehow, only one of these things surprises me (and it isn’t the last

5 Sporting Moments of 2026
Unlike a lot of this magazine, sports don’t really have best and worst moments. The reality is the best moment for Spain was the worst for Argentina. The only genuinely guilt free moment was probably number one on this list. So here are what we consider to be five sporting

10 Best People of 2026
10. Bad Bunny The fact that Turning Point USA programmed a counter-show for the Super Bowl shows you exactly how great Bad Bunny is. In a time of political divide, he delivered an entertaining performance highlighting love, diversity, inclusion and just good music. But because he did it in Spanish,

50 Worst People of 2026
50. Sydney Sweeney Word count: 40 | Writer: Ruby Another year, another offensive ad from everyone’s fourth favourite Euphoria cast member. She’s not supporting eugenics this time, but she is setting women back 50 years by stripping down and saying ‘sports’. Sydney, let’s be real, it’s time for a new

5 Worst Games of 2026
5. GTA 6 (covering our asses) – We’ve done this dance with Cyberpunk, Fallout 76, Starfield, Mighty No.9, Duke Nukem Forever, Concord… Wolverine… 4. Beast of Reincarnation – The experience is like decorating a Woolworths vanilla cake with gold flakes and chocolate ganache – visually more exciting than its contents.

5 Best Games of 2026
5. GTA 6 (Pre-emptively) – 12 years in the oven, surely Rockstar can’t miss. 4. 007 First Light – It’s not Goldeneye, but it will do. 3. Resident Evil 9 – A great new instalment in this legendary saga! I really like how much the gameplay changes when you switch

5 Worst Movie of 2026
5. Moana – Homer waited 2700 years for his sailing epic to get a blockbuster live-action adaptation, Disney barely waited 10. Have some fucking patience. 4. Michael – Oof, you know it’s BAD! Ow! Shamone! 3. Masters of the Universe – Who was this for? 2. Melania – We don’t

5 Best Movies of 2026
5. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – Gillian Anderson as some weird lesbian horror fanatic and a transgender air vent? Sign me up! 4. Coyote Vs Acme – The irony of this movie being about corporate injustice when it almost didn’t make it to theatres. Tight comedic writing,

5 Worst Television of 2026
5. Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s still unfair 4. Off Campus – Another shitty romance novel has been made into another shitty romance show, this time with a serious lack of marginalised people. This show could use some woke propaganda. 3. Ryan Bridge Today This show has lowered the standard

5 Best Television of 2026
5. Adults (season 2) – Comedies are back, and this time it’s made Gen Z humour palatable. 4. One Piece (live action) Season 2 – Not just a great adaptation that keeps the eccentric heart and story of the original whilst softening some of the characters garish elements (Sanji) –

5 Worst Trends of 2026
5. Calling things chic – Are your ballet flats and Brazil t-shirt really ‘chic’ or have you just succumbed to the illusion that your algorithm is somehow unique and reflective of your ‘true spirit’ 4. Hobbytok – Just stop. You’re ruining hobbies for everyone else. Honestly, most of the people

5 Best Trends of 2026
5. Imported cigarettes – 20 dollars for a pack of Marlboro golds? Uhm, yes please! Yummy! 4. Aura Farming Battles – At least they are outside making friends 3. Vandalizing National Party signs – Just like a flag can only represent freedom if that freedom includes the ability

5 Worst Albums of 2026
5. Reality Awaits – The Strokes: This album is disappointment in a fucking CD case, we deserved better. 4. Music, Fashion, Film – Charli XCX: Honestly, Charli slayed so hard with Brat that everything else she makes is mid. 3. Daughter From Hell – Gracie Abrams: As a species, we,

Still Kickflipping in Gaza
An Interview with Rajab Al-Reefi by Toby Brockelbank Nexus have been working on this interview since July as, “Communicating with the outside world is extremely difficult, because electricity is unavailable, the internet is very weak, and sometimes it cuts off for days”. We are very grateful and proud to announce

Turn a Place to a Playground: Skating Across Kenya
Skitty interviewed by Toby Brockelbank Nexus are stoked to share our interview on the Kenyan skate scene and some of the crew’s recent mish skating across Kenya, from Nairobi to Lodwar – that’s over 700 km on a fucking skateboard! We reached out to the Skateboarding Society of Kenya (SSK)

News From Uganda Skate Society
An Interview with Gose Gerald by Toby Brockelbank and Patrick Kigongo Photography credit: Tommy Hatwell @tommyhatwell Nexus are super stoked to have talked to Gose Gerald of Uganda Skateboard Society again. If you follow skating, you’ve probably seen them in the news recently as their super unique park has been

Skate Ukraine, A Year Later
An Interview with Mykhaylo Tevkun by Toby Brockelbank Nexus are super grateful to have sat down with Mykhaylo Tevkun of Skate Ukraine for another interview. If you haven’t seen last year’s interview, Something Solid to Stand on, check it out. Mykhaylo and I decided to focus this coverage on what

The Girls Skate Crew of Nepal
Interview with Girls Skate Nepal by Toby Brockelbank Photos by Tirtha Lawati (@tirtharabinlawati) Nepal has been in the news lots recently, for the recent floods which Girls Skate Nepal described as “devastating for many communities in Nepal” – there will be suggestions by the crew for supporting disaster relief at

MADE TO BE WORN
Who decided Māori fashion was only for special occasions? There is this idea that Māori clothing and adornment belong in a particular category: something traditional, something formal, something you wear when the occasion calls for it. But Māori fashion has never really been that simple. We make things to wear.

TŪ PAKARI I TŌ MANA ĀHUA AKE
Tōku tuakiritanga Ka whakato te kākano…. I mua rā nō i tōku hekenga mai ki te whenua. Tīramarama au i te kiko o te rangi, ko tōku wairua e kōriporipo ana i te puna wairua o ngā Rangitūhāhā. I tiro whakararo au ki te mata o te whenua. Kei te
Who, Studying What, and From Where? Stats of our Cohort
By Andrew Lin. Nexus got a nerd to get an Official Information Act request on enrolment demographics here at UoW. Wanna see if engineering really is a sausage fest (it is) and which stereotypes our cohort might defy (a few)? Curious how 7 subjects could make up almost half of

Nexus Interview Amber Clyde – Founder of Girls Skate NZ
Girls Skate NZ is a not for profit who have been running skate lessons for 8 years. The organisation has carved their way into parks all over Auckland and shown how far some funding and some gnar can take you – even supporting Kiwis competitively shredding! What did you enjoy

Active Imagination: How Protests Hold Power.
‘Protest’ falls into the lexical category of both noun and verb. The past participle is not commonly used. We say that we are ‘protesting’ but very rarely do we say that we have ‘protested.’ This is because change and power are both results of ongoing imagination and continual action. The

The Good Shit Has Changed
In today’s day and age, when you step out into the public world, you’re very likely to see an array of people clutching an array of drinks that all have one thing in common: caffeine. You’re probably holding one yourself, whether it’s a hot coffee spewing steam, a cold coffee

When the Attacker Becomes the Story
In the hours following the attack at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride celebrations, the focus of public conversation shifted with remarkable speed. Before many people knew the names of those injured or understood the impact on Berlin’s LGBTIQ+ community, headlines were already highlighting one particular detail: the alleged attacker’s links

I’m fucking broke because of a dead tree
TELL ME WHY. Seriously, tell me why I walk into Campus Books needing three – may I stress, only three – texts for an English course I’m currently taking, and I walk out $134.25 poorer. For THREE fiction books. One of which was almost sixty dollars, which sure, it’s a fairly chunky book, but most of the paper isn’t used

Hamilton’s 2026 Election Guide (So Far)
For many students, the 2026 general election will be the first time they have the opportunity to directly influence who represents their community in Parliament. While national debates often focus on party leaders, electorate MPs have an important role in advocating for local issues – including the challenges many students face

Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 14 2026
ROADS OF MAYBE SORT OF POTENTIALLY NOT REALLY NATIONAL INTEREST The Chris Bishop humiliation ritual will continue until house prices improve. MONEYBALL(s) Sunday Star sportswriter Tony Smith has had an opinion article published. In the article, Smith argues that we should put ‘smart corporate money’ on the All Whites just as much

STRAIT… UP ‘N CLOSED (AGAIN) (YES LIKE FOR A SECOND TIME) (SORRY)
Long queues for slightly promising gas prices might be looming beyond the windscreen once again. After tense ceasefire negotiations with Iran on June 17th, the United States saw some gaudy jackboot phonk edits get thrown up by official White House accounts, there was a period of snails pace, closely monitored travel through the strait of Hormuz. Before any of us regular folk

MODI’S GREAT KIWI HOLIDAY
Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi arrived in Auckland on July 10th to a wave of fanfare from Kiwi-Indians and our bald Prime Minister for talks of bilateral partnership by way of a Free Trade Agreement. India’s understanding of the agreement, though, seems to be a little flopsided; With Modi thanking us for a ‘commitment’ to investing

New Zealand’s Road Toll: A Systematic Failure.
Sunday nights are usually the same in my household; something nice for dinner, chilling out with my flatmate, and the compulsory viewing of One News Live at 6. The news was the same as usual last Sunday, with some World Cup updates, something about the United States, and a report on

Hamilton Busses – Absolute Bus-shit.
All my fellow Uni students with no cars, where are we at? Oh, I’m the only one? Damn, I guess I lost that bet then. Well, what about the ones who take the affordable bus? Ahh, that’s much better. It’s cheaper than fuel, you don’t have to fight for parking, and there’s no chance of someone breaking in and stealing your vehicle. For these three

Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 13 2026
The South Island finally gets shitty weather: Thank God it’s passed us and gone down there. We did not need more rain this year, but the flooding looks horrific. Sorry for laughing at you, Otago. China warns New Zealand about upcoming missile tests in the Pacific: Of course our Prime Minister was chill with this. Put your mouth where

School lunches inquiry: What went wrong?
The Audit Office has responded to an Official Information Act request regarding the changes to the Healthy School Lunches programme. The changes were proposed in 2024 by Associate Minister for Education David Seymour, and rolled out over 2025. The original Healthy School Lunches programme was expected to cost between $5.78 and $8.62 a lunch
An Interview with: Chloë Swabrick
As students continue to navigate rising living costs, growing student debt and the government’s decision to end the first-year Fees Free scheme, tertiary education has become a major election issue. To discuss what these changes mean for students and why young people should pay attention this election, Aoife sat down

“Butter Chicken Tsunami” Deez Nuts
I naïvely had hoped anti-immigration rhetoric wouldn’t reach Aotearoa as it has in other countries. Over the past year I have been proven wrong. It’s hard to see hate winning over a country I once had so much pride in, at least a very vocal demographic make it seem that way. I was born

Three Steps Back: How the Man and Woman bill is hypocritical and harmful
On the 20th of May, ACT member of parliament David Seymour announced on his Facebook account that ACT would be directly supporting the movement of the controversial ‘Man and Woman’ bill through parliament. Promoted as a feminist movement, the bill seeks to define transgender people under their biological sex in

Big Girls Do Cry
Long time no see, Nexus readers. I don’t know how this happened, but I’ve been revived from my year-long slumber to write the penultimate editorial of 2026. There’s a lot of things I could say. I could tell you about the terrible state of the reality TV scene, my current

Love, Lies, and a Concerning Amount of Lab Safety Violations
Rating: -1/5 The Love Hypothesis is the cinematic equivalent of eating an entire packet of biscuits in one sitting: deeply enjoyable, slightly embarrassing, and best not examined too closely. The film follows PhD student Olive Smith as she enters a fake relationship with intimidatingly tall and emotionally constipated professor Adam

Holden’s Growing Up, Unfortunately
Rating: 2/5 Holden Caulfield spends The Catcher in the Rye convinced that everyone around him is a phony, but beneath all the complaining, he is slowly developing something more valuable: worldly intelligence. His wandering through New York becomes an education outside the classroom, exposing him to sex, loneliness, adulthood, exploitation

The End of Oak Street
Rating: 5/5 When I found out that the woman, the myth, the icon Anne Hathaway and his lordship, Jedi Master and Otter Enthusiast Ewan McGregor were the leads in an upcoming film about a random 1970s American-Dream style family getting magically transported back in time to the Jurassic, there was

Elle
Rating: 4/5 After more than a decade since the last film in the world of Legally Blonde, we return with a 1990’s prequel, known as Elle. The show is a comedy-drama, about a 16 year old Elle dealing with her first fish-out-of-water scenario as her family moves from Los Angeles

The Gentleman – Season 2
Rating: 4/5 After rewatching the five-star masterpiece that was The Gentlemen’s first season, I leapt into season two with excitement; Theo James was back as the Duke of Halstead (and arguably more attractive than ever before) with his his work-wife Susie Glass (who has given me a new celebrity crush;

Teenage sex and Death and Adult Sex and Survival.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the kind of film that appears to announce its intentions through its title: sex, death, teenagers, and a summer-camp setting where all four are presumably destined to collide. Yet beneath its deliberately provocative surface, the film is doing something considerably more interesting.

Passing – Nella Larsen
Rating: 2/5 This novel, written back in the modernist era, is one of those gems that says a whole lot more about society than you’d ever think possible. It dives into the startling reality of coloured women who are white presenting, which isn’t a topic we see much of in

Love Island Season 8
Rating: -1/5 It’s got to be said; Love Island is never going to be a super good show with everything you need to settle in and watch something with quality. HOWEVER, I have to admit that this season did give us some gold wrapped up in the many, many episodes

Legally Blonde
Rating: 5/5 Warning: this review contains spoilers I am very biased towards this film, which is definitely going to show in this review, but that’s just because I am absolutely in love with it. Legally Blonde did something very few films were capable of and still are, which is creating

Adults season 2
Rating: 2/5 Alongside a brand-new pilot episode, Adults made a grand return with season 2. I went in with so many questions: what’s happening with Paul Baker and Issa, are Anton and Paul Baker together now, will Billie ever get a job? This season wasted no time getting back into

Sterling Point
Rating: 5/5 Released just last month on Prime Video, Sterling Point is an effortless teen drama that includes comedy, mystery, and one-too-many Camp Rock 2 references. Born from the brain of Megan Park, an actress turned screenwriter, the tv show stands out against the current wave of Gen Z focused

Kōrero Mai – Issue 10 2026
I’ll just come right out and say it. If there were no extra financial support for education, I would not be attending university right now. Many tauira don’t have the luxury of a safety net or financial stability. Many come from homes that don’t have an extra $20 to spare. Back in the dark ages, in

Kōrero Mai – Issue 7 2026
Tauira Māori on campus Māne (Monday) Tūrei (Tuesday) Wenerei (Wednesday) Hoki atu ki tō kāinga – Just go home Nā Elyse Rahiri Only a quarter of the way through the year and already most of us are feeling a bit pau te hau. Getting back into the swing of study can be overwhelming and even worse if you have people pleasing tendencies, don’t say

Kōrero Mai
Tauira Māori on campus Tūrei (Tuesday) Wenerei (Wednesday) Taite (Thursday) Te Waiora – Rā Hākinakina | Gate 2b – 4:30 pm Reo Māori Phrases of the Week Kia ora koutou! Here are some useful everyday Reo Māori phrases to help you talk about holidays, whānau, and what you’ve been up to. COLUMN I tōku whānau tokorua ōku kuia, noho tahi ai. Arā, ko tōku kuia a toto nei, me te kuia o tōku ngākau. Ko te rongo o te aroha, kāore i rerekē. He tirohanga Māori tēnei. Ahakoa te momo aroha,

Kōrero Mai
By now you’ve probably heard we’ve got a new name. We’re still WSU, but now we also carry our ingoa Māori, Te Awa Kōtui. This didn’t happen overnight. WSU has been working towards an ingoa Māori that truly reflects us and our tauira for a long time, across multiple boards. I also want to acknowledge the presidents, vice presidents, VP Māori, and life members who contributed

He Kura Tūroa
Kia ora, my name is Anaia Rua, and I am from Ngāi Tūhoe & Ngāti Awa. In the following piece, I reflect on the profound connection shared between Aotearoa and our relatives from Hawai’i during the “He Kura Tūroa” wānanga. He Kura Tūroa: Relatives Across the Pacific He ahurea te taiao, he taiao te ahurea. The environment is the culture, the culture is the

Tikanga: Does It Evolve in a Modern World?
A question I heard recently has been sitting with me: can tikanga evolve in a modern world? It came up during a kōrero between a group of tauira, and it sparked a lot of reflection for me about what I’ve been taught and how I understand tikanga today. For many people, tikanga is

Tauira Māori on campus
There’s a strong Māori presence on campus and plenty happening this week, from Cultural Hour to weekly wānanga and study spaces. If you want to meet other tauira, build your reo, or spend time in a Māori space between classes, there are kaupapa running across campus. Keep an eye on… Te whakahiapo – Maori law students association – @te_whakahiapo
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