What’s the Buzz – Why does ACT Bee-lieve in Paul Henry? 

Election campaigns are always learning opportunities for political parties. This year, it seems as though ACT is learning the lesson that it is not good practice to take on people with sections of their Wikipedia pages labelled “controversies” to run for List MP.   While I wouldn’t put it past ACT voters to look beyond

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The Horror Within Us: the Horror Genre and Mental Illness

I think horror has always been so strong as a genre because it reflects both the best and worst in us. There’s always been a certain pull to the battles that occur in both literary and film within this area. Never have I been an overly large consumer of horror, mostly because I’m a

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America, what the fuck??? 

You’d think I would have stumbled across it before, but for the first time in my life, I recently saw an anti-abortion sticker on the back of an old woman’s truck. ‘Abortion stops a beating heart.’ Well yeah Susan, that’s kind of the point, so it’s good to know you got the memo. Now obviously, we’re lucky enough to

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Hong Kong’s City of Darkness 

Picture this. The year is 1985, and you are flying into Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport. As you approach the runway, you look out of your window, and what appears is a giant megastructure that is made up of hundreds of buildings crammed together like sardines in a can. What’s even

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Revealing Reviews

This show is a gripping psychological survival horror series about the dangers of child neglect. It follows a young girl who suffers from frequent abandonment, often left to wander the surroundings of her town and nearby jungle alone. As a result of her parent’s frequent neglect, it appears the poor girl has

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History’s Missing Civilisation 

In 1826, explorer Charles Masson of the British East India Company was travelling across the Punjab. Well-versed in the classics, Masson was busy exploring the sites of Alexander the Great’s military campaigns when he stumbled across mysterious ruins near Sahiwal in what is now modern-day Pakistan. Impressed by the site’s size and large

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Night, blooming jagoff – Fakemink’s Terrified

Since his rocket to stardom with the danceable EDM-laden Easter Pink in 2025, UK Rapper Fakemink has been a staple of everyone you know’s TikTok FYP thanks to a slew of catchy hooks, a distinct pitched-up voice and constant invoking of Belgian fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester. Mink’s debut 2023 album London’s Saviour made him concrete in the “UK

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The Notesapp: For Grant

It sat empty, the armchair  Black, bold, scuffed  Home to the ghost of a man  He used to fish,  He used to walk,  He used to laugh,  He used to be  Then he didn’t  It began in his feet,   Tickling his toes and grabbing at his ankles,  A cruel, curling pain 

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$50 date 

Welcome to the $50 Date, where a broke university student takes his girlfriend on a date with a budget of $50, and rates the activities accordingly. The rules of this exercise are simple; Whatever we do, we can only spend $50. Each, or total, I hear you asking? Yes. After the activity,

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What’s The Buzz – MMBee

Some people have a countdown until Christmas. I’m crossing off the days on the calendar until it reaches the 7th of November: Election Day.  Whether you’re anxiously watching the votes get counted, you’re actively avoiding any mention of politics, or you have no idea how to even wrap your head around the election, it’s important to understand

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The Notesapp 

The air was stagnant, I could taste the presence of hundreds of pastors who had led services years before. The congregation rustled— shifting weight, creaking pews, the soft drag of dress shoes across the hardwood. Pastor Sheridan’s voice rolled from the pulpit, controlled but thunderous through my unsettled ears. As he lifted

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Unconventional ways to survive university with ADHD

Properly diagnosed or not, medicated or not, having ADHD while trying to get yourself an education is a little bit of a bitch to deal with. You’d think it wouldn’t be so hard; this is a degree I want to do, I chose to do, I like the subjects, but every reading and assignment and tutorial feels

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Opt-Out of Voting ACT 

ACT’s newest policy is giving students false hope for cheaper study costs.   Under its proposed tertiary policy, students would be able to opt out of paying Student Services Fees, which currently help everything from our health services to UniRec to this very magazine. ACT argues this would give students more

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Post-irony, AI, and Trust in the Media

Over the past decade trust in the media has declined. I think this has moved beyond postmodern scepticism, so I’ve written a bit about how technology influences culture and reminded you all that we’re getting fucked by AI.  I believe the gap between media’s representation of truth and reality itself

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Toby’s Tips 

For issue 12 I wrote an editorial telling you to use academic jargon and the language of your field of study in your assignments. Here’s more unsolicited advice for writing assignments.  There’s something I’ve noticed to be constant across my assignments, papers, and the fields I’ve studied. Virtually every assignment wants you to apply a framework to

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“I Gotta Put Me First”

The best decision I ever made as someone in their early (to mid) twenties was to stop caring what other people think. And that’s not to say I’m perfect at it but I try to focus on me and only me. I don’t care if my outfits fit the trends; here at Nexus, I write what I want to write. I take uni papers that

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The Difference Between Giving Up and Taking a Break 

University students have become experts at being busy. We juggle lectures, assignments, jobs, internships, clubs, relationships, side hustles, and somehow try to maintain a social life in between. If you’re not exhausted, it almost feels like you’re doing something wrong.  Somewhere along the way, we’ve started wearing stress like a badge of honour.  The advice we’re usually given falls into two

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The Imposition of AI here at UoW 

The following is based on anonymous reports from teaching staff and students, my personal opinion, and a healthy helping of speculation. We cannot find any evidence this is certainly happening; there is no uni statement or policy I could find from a google search. However, if the university is mandating that teaching staff include AI in their

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Editorial – Issue 12 2026

Citing McGall’s recent work – seminal in the intersection of nexus thought and academic meta discourse – this paper outlines strategy for furthering one’s linguistic execution in the context of undergraduate scholarship. Positing a reductive angle, sharpened by a pragmatic approach, this article cuts through the academic noise and offers advice both

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The Politics of Exclusion 

The proposed Definitions of Woman and Man bill seeks to define a woman as “an adult human biological female” and a man as “an adult human biological male” in the Legislation Act (2019). Its explanatory note claims the purpose is to “protect the integrity of sex-based rights” and ensure language reflects “biological reality.”

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Fees Free Scrapped

On Friday the 8th of May New Zealand’s beacon of austerity, Nicola Willis, confirmed what NZ First gerontocrat Winston Peters had leaked on Newstalk ZB, that fees free will be scrapped in the upcoming budget. Our very own iron lady shared that “We will have more to say about this in

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Gaza and the Ongoing Reality of Survival

So far this year, international affairs has been consumed by the USA and Isreal targeting Iran, however, the genocide on Palestine hasn’t ended just because Isreal is occupied elsewhere. The scale of suffering in Gaza Strip right now demands attention to what daily life has become for Palestinians still living through the

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An Open Letter to Old People: Gen Z Don’t Like AI 

Japan is turning footsteps into energy… jk.  But that’s an example of one of the many ways AI is enclosing the internet. We, as young people, have seen its slow creep into our lives, from uncanny AI generated images to Russian bots celebrating Putin’s gains in the Donbas. But old people haven’t. They haven’t grown up

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A Rant About Humanities

Toby gave me 48 hour notice to write this editorial because he didn’t want to do it so now I’m going to convince you to study humanities:  When choosing a degree pathway, one question remains: Is the humanities dying? The rise of STEM fields being framed as practical, employable subjects intensify this narrative. Yet, beneath this rhetoric lies

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Blind Date – Issue 6 2026

He is a 20-year-old third year that was looking for Miss Right that he could plan his environment around. She is a 19-year-old Nursing student looking for Mr Right now. Was it a love connection? We will let you judge. PSA: Women don’t owe men anything – but they do

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Horoscopes – Issue 6 2026

Aries – Stop procrastinating, embrace your 15 deadlines and get shit done.  Taurus – Happy Birthday, also calm down, invest in a journal.  Gemini – They’re not looking at you; they don’t want you; stop being a pick me.  Cancer – It’s time to become less insufferable. It’s time for you to shine, I feel big things and more friends coming your way.  Leo – Spice

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Random Audit – ENGLI200

Weekly topic: online literature.  THEY’RE STUDYING FANFICTION THIS WEEK. Granted it’s that shitty Harry Styles After one. I’d be interested in doing a census and see if people like this homework more or less than reading through a twenty page scholarly article. There are some people who have Wattpad open in this class but, unlike usual, they’re actually engaging with the lecture.  I really like the way

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Soundcheck – Issue 6 2026

Album review Bri Louise   Pōneke based, Bri Louise, brings a calm gentleness to this Album; you can hear the smile in her voice and the love she has for those she sings about. With smooth jazz and R ‘n’ B notes, the Album was recorded live, with a ~20-piece support band/choir, giving it

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Soundcheck – Issue 5 2026

The Beths – gig Review  We’re in an old church-turned-music-venue, you can feel the lingering evangelical spirit whipping up the crowd into a holy fervour, worshiping the divine power that is The Beths. It’s hot as hell, packed to bursting with students and mid-30s day-one fans alike.  My friends and I manage to push almost

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Recipe – Lazy Focaccia

Ingredients   1 cup lukewarm water   1 tablespoon of sugar   2 teaspoons active dry yeast   2 tablespoons olive oil (it wont explode if u use vegetable oil but it wont be as flavorful)   2 ½ – 3 cups standard four (for this recipe I eyeball it but its usually around 350gr)   1 teaspoon of salt   Fresh rosemary   Cherry tomatoes  

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Random Audit – Media100

As a third-year History major, I know fuck all about media. I took the subject in high school, but that was four years ago and I’m pretty certain we just watched movies. So, when I walked into a MEDIA100 tutorial at 2pm a few Fridays ago, I had absolutely no idea what

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Should English be an official language?

No:  Logically, I can see why this would be an ideal option. However, the main thing that must be understood when it comes to an official language in New Zealand is that they are often made that way out of necessity. Te reo was banned from being spoke and by the 80s less than 20% of Māori considered te reo to be their native

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Horoscopes – 30/3/26

Capricorn:   – Capricorn of the month: Sophia Laforteza   – We’re all in this together. Get your ass in gear and fix your sleep schedule. Your parents are worried.   Aquarius:   – Aquarius of the month: the Weekend   – You’re a bad actor and a bad liar. No one is falling for it. Give it up while you’re ahead.  

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Blind Date – Issue 5 2026

“She was a girl. She was also a girl. Can I make it any more obvious? Blind Date is back and we’re bringing the lesbians! (and the bisexuals no bi-erasure here).” Person 1: Before the date I was super nervous got ready hours before hand and kept checking my phone

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Long-distance…yay or nay?

Lauren – for  Lots of people say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. I wouldn’t be the first to avidly agree with that, but I have my fair share of long distance connections all over the world, so I get it. It’s hard, sure, but it’s doable and worth it in the long run. Maintaining a friendship or

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Wet Denim

We sat down with Joe, Luca, Nick and Jack from the 4-piece Pōneke based band Wet Denim on Sunday. Appearing at Homegrown the night before, the band was stoked with how Kirikiriroa came out to support and bust a boogie, commenting: “Yeah, it felt like the main stage was just

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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

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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

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Bisexual girls are allowed to have boyfriends- just accept it.

Since pride month has finally ended, it’s appropriate to talk about what’s happening to bisexual women in queer internet spaces at the moment. Since the 1980s, there has been an observable rift between bisexual women that date men and lesbians, which has been recently revived on social media. I sat down with Sonja Ellis, a professor

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The iPad Kids Aren’t Alright 

A New Plymouth primary school has phased out the use of iPads for students in years one to four.  Omata School was one of the first in the country to adopt the use of devices in the classroom, but Principal Karen Brisco is now not so convinced that they are

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Gymfluencers and the Ozempademic

Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll find a new body to aspire to. One creator swears by becoming a “muscle mommy,” another insists Pilates is the secret to a lean physique, while someone else claims marathon training transformed their body and life. Alongside these fitness trends come equally viral

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The Tavern – Grassroots NZ Film with Matt Hicks

Sup Matt! Tell us a bit about yourself and your time at Nexus?  I used to write a column called ‘Making living cheaper with Honest Matt’. It was dodgy (borderline criminal) financial advice for poor students. I won columnist of the year for 2012 and got really drunk at House.    Also, that

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Maiki Sherman’s resignation: more than just a controversy

Maiki Sherman has resigned from her role as political editor for 1News at TVNZ.   That’s the headline, but it’s not the full picture. The circumstances surrounding her resignation have been only one part of an ecosystem of muddied waters that now make up the relationship between Parliament, the media, and the New Zealand

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The Rise and Fall of Fees Free

The tumultuous history of deciding who pays for university  The University of Waikato opened in1964, and its students back then had a much different experience financing university than we do today. From 1962 until 1989, the government paid for tertiary tuition fees in full with the state bursary.   As the story often goes, all good things

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Red or Black? 

It’s not much of a secret that online gambling has seen a rise in popularity in the last few years, especially with the younger generation. The technology being offered today means you can gamble from anywhere you can find a connection, anytime you want, on whatever device you’re using. It’s convenient, accessible, and marketed as entertainment suited

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An Objectively Good Jawline – the Dehumanisation of Looksmaxxing

Content warning: mentions of sexual violence, drug use and suicide   The popularisation of looksmaxxing has opened a gaping glory hole in the manosphere – ironically by some of the most homophobic people on the internet.   Looksmaxxing, a portmanteau of ‘looks’ and ‘maximising’, is the idea and practice of improving one’s physical appearance through a variety of

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Metamodernism: The Feeling After Irony 

At some point in the early 21st century, it became clear that the cultural mood had shifted. The ironic detachment that defined late 20th-century art and thought – so central to postmodernism – no longer felt sufficient in a world shaped by climate anxiety, digital hyperconnectivity, and renewed political urgency. Yet a return to

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Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 17

Ariana Grande Fans Piss me off on Twitter:  These people are genuinely worse than Swifities. I feel like an insane chud having fights with people on this godforsaken app behind an anonymous profile, but their behaviour is getting out of hand.  Winston Peters is a Dick, as per usual.  In

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Grow Up and Start a Small Business

Lucky for Rotorua, PM Luxon met with their Business Chamber to discuss the state of the economy for small business owners. Unlucky for said business owners, Luxon had some not so nice things to say. After stating that small business owners need to simply “be adult” when facing rising costs

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Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 18

#FUMBLEOFTHECENTURY No, this isn’t about Penk’s failure to overthrow the government. No, this isn’t about Luxon basically giving TOP over to the left bloc right before they got kingmaker status. This is about your flatmate locking himself in his bedroom after texting “W Tits” to a woman on Hinge.   At least

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Human Ethics Committee Wait Times Leaving Students in the Lurch  

Wait times for the Human Ethics committee in Health research have left much to be desired, affecting the work of many Honours and Post-graduate students.     One student stated that in 2025, they submitted their research proposal to the ALPSS ethics committee in April, intending to start research in May. While

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Te Piringa Political Debate 

Waikato students and residents gather in te Pā to witness our very own political debate. With Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke representing Te Pāti Māori, Opportunity party leader Qiulae Wong, Dr. Parmjeet Parmar from Act, Hamilton East candidate Georgie Dansey (Labour), Hon Tama Potaka – our current Hamilton West MP with National, Dr

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Winston’s Wignats – NZFirst has a Nazi problem.

In a shock to a surprising amount of people, a senior NZFirst youth figure was revealed to have been connected to far-right messaging networks. Nicholas Newport/Wells, 26, a former Waikato University student, was linked to at least one social media account that repeatedly posted ‘Heil Hitler!’, and which expressed support

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The People of Hamilton Cannot Drive 

If you’ve driven anywhere in Hamilton in the last year, you’d notice there seems to be an epidemic of very poor drivers on our roads, making bad decisions and making our city look worse than it already does.   With a whopping 338 accidents or fatal crashes on our Hamilton roads

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CHRISPOCALYPSE NOW

…Or, Our Chrisis II… Or, Ya Feeling Lucky Penk? In Sam Neil’s breakout feature film role, the 1977 political thriller Sleeping Dogs, the New Zealand government slips into a military junta which mutates the country into a Fascist police state that eventually brings in American military advisors with rifles and

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Signing of MOU Represents a New Commitment to Disabled Students

On 27 May 2026, a group of disabled student activists gathered in the SUB over pizza and sodas to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Te Awa Kōtui  Waikato Students Union and the Waikato Disabled Students Association. This small but influential club is dedicated to supporting and advocating for all disabled

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U by Underscores

Rating: 4/5 April Harper Grey is an artpop/hyperpop artist known as Underscores. She frequently collaborates with other experimental pop adjacent artists such as Jane Remover and Danny Brown, whilst having her own unique genre-bending sound that separates her from the rest.   Underscores’ latest album U is fully self-produced and feels like her most personal and all-encompassing album

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Kokuho

Rating: 4/5 It’s not every day that you watch a movie that, despite its slow pace, absolutely captivates you. Recently, I stumbled across a movie called Kokuho. Directed by Lee Sang-il, Kokuho dives into the world of kabuki theatre and explores themes of artistic discipline and personal identity. But at its heart, it is a universal story

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Miyazaki 

Rating: 4 For many people in the arts, creation is central to identity. I’m in that group. I put a little bit of myself in everything I do. Consequently, I am a huge fan of Studio Ghibli and the work of Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the most powerful storytellers I’ve come across.  ‘Miyazaki’ by Paris Paloma

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Avatar: Fire and Ash

Rating: 2 Because I didn’t look properly at the specifics of the showing, I walked into the theatre and ended up watching the newest Avatar movie in 3D, which wasn’t something I’d done in a long time, and it made the movie’s experience so much better to be sitting there

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Malignant

Rating: 4 As an avid horror movie fan, I liked to think I could predict how the story was going to go, but this one really had me stumped, and the reveal had me absolutely amazed. Malignant is an incredible movie about a woman named Madison who is starting to have

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Manosphere Madness 

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is a compelling but uneven look at misogynistic online influencers and the young men drawn to them. The film effectively exposes an ecosystem where outrage and insecurity are turned into a lucrative business model, with “manfluencers” selling courses, communities, and personas as much as ideas. It’s most powerful

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IT’S FALL. 

Time for my bi-annual re-watch of Cartoon Network’s Over The Garden Wall. (Those who are politically correct also watch it in September as the creators intended.)  It’s a heartwarming story about two brothers getting lost in The Unknown and slowly losing hope as they draw deeper into the woods, as winter creeps closer, as The Beast draws nearer.

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The Australian Grand Prix; A review from a fan

Rating: +3 I flew to Melbourne last week to watch the 2026 f1 season opener in person, so here is my review of how it was run, and what they could improve on next time. The track was busiest for qualifying and race day, and most people caught the tram or walked

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Resident Evil Requiem

Ok gang, let’s talk about Resident Evil Requiem. For starters, I’m a big fan of Capcom and have been playing their games for about 8 years now. I was first introduced to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and my initial reaction when I started playing it was something along the lines

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Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour (5/5) 

There are no words to describe this event. I genuinely fked myself going to this concert because after this there won’t be any better concert to go to. Benito is a great guy, one of the best people alive, but he fked my life and left me in an existential void.  It was an amazing show,

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? By Bassvictim.

Propelled to the forefront of the whole electroclash/knitted sweater/no-its-not-indie-sleaze-dont-call-it-that London/New York “scene” with their two 2025 albums Basspunk 2 and Forever, Bassvictim’s Ike Clatman and Maria Monrow have had an open messiness to their image that lands somewhere between Pete Doherty with Kate Moss and the Instagram stories of that highschool couple you’re sort of worried about. Although

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The Moment

+4  Charli XCX’s new film The Moment is both a cringe-fest and a beautiful commentary on modern pop music, set to bratty beats we know and love. While the British popstar isn’t the greatest actress of all time, her ability to tap into emotions on a dime is admirable, and within the context of the film, she

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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

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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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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