Salient

Susannah Crawford In the dining room of my family home in Christchurch, a black‑and‑white photograph hangs on the wall. Four men stand on an icy Himalayan ridge, their tents pitched on what looks like a forty‑five‑degree slope. The ridge is on Thamserku—a steep, fluted giant rising 6608 metres above the Khumbu in Nepal. Every Everest Base Camp trekker sees its dramatic profile from Namche Bazaar, but almost none will ever stand on its summit. Only six confirmed ascents have been made.

If there is one thing New Zealand’s political parties can apparently agree on this election, it is that something has gone badly wrong at the supermarket. What they cannot agree on is what to do about it. ACT wants to make it easier for another supermarket chain to enter the country. Labour wants to prise open the wholesale networks controlled by the existing giants. National and New Zealand First want to split Foodstuffs in two.

Elected 2027 VUWSA president Charlotte Lawrence is excited to make the position her full-time gig next year after she finishes studying in only a weeks’ time. The history major brings a huge sense of enthusiasm for community orientated events, protests, and campaigns to the role, and looks forward to mobilising student action to bring about change. “I think it’s going to be a really monumental year,” she told Salient.

A Constructivist Case for International Dinner Parties Angela Ipock International Relations spends a lot of energy debating what states want and why they fight. But one of the field's more interesting insights—one that constructivist theory puts at its center—is that neither wants nor identities are fixed. They are built. States, like people, come to understand who they are and what matters to them through interaction with others.

Hanadi Hammad Al Bakhas In Syria, water was never just water. It carried the taste of belonging. I was five years old in my grandfather’s garden in Homs. Summer wrapped the day in warmth. Butterflies wandered through the air, flowers leaned towards the sun, and my little cat followed me wherever I ran. I was the first grandchild in my mother’s family, and everyone treated me like I was something precious. I grew up surrounded by love, convinced that childhood would always feel that safe.

New ADHD rules were supposed to broaden access to diagnosis. But Te Herenga Waka’s planned free assessment pathway never opened, private assessments still cost around $1000 or more, and publicly funded care remains limited. Salient investigates the gap—and the student market in prescription stimulants growing around it. In several Signal group chats shown to Salient, prescription ADHD stimulants are advertised with the casual shorthand of any other student-marketplace sale.

The Taste of Me is Acquired, But It’s His Favourite Dish Taylor Swift: The Encore Well, well, well... just when you thought the year would escape Taylor Swift, she’s back. This time it’s with four new tracks, The Encore, to round out last year’s The Life of a Showgirl.

A feed for fuck-all Dessert, anyone? Thank you for following along as I ate my way around the city, sniffing out the best deals and which promos were bogus. There were the stalwarts that always pull through, like Everybody Eats and KC Cafe, but also surprising first-timers for me, like Kera-la-carte and Platform 145. Of course, there were let-downs as well; places touting a good deal like a Fata Morgana in this desert of empty stomachs and bank accounts.

I’ll be vulnerable and admit I have a phone addiction. This past year, I've realized my world revolves around a slab of metal, and I’ve let myself become its slave. If I have an extended period of time to myself, I’ll enter a rabbit hole of scrolling, deeper and deeper as hours pass by. What’s scary is that I’ll be aware of it, thinking, “I should look away soon…” Yet, I’ll stay paralyzed in my bed as the afternoon turns dark, and it’s too late to be productive.

Dear dating diary, As we come towards the end of the year (and my final Salient article eek!!!), it only feels fitting to reflect on the past year of my life. A lot has happened and I have certainly grown as a person. I have found out a lot about myself and what dating means to me, which has been tough but incredibly enlightening overall. There have also been a few stories that I haven’t had the opportunity to tell through this column.