Stories by Nik Dirga

First Person - Dozens of homes out on Auckland's West Coast were damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle. A month on, RNZ's Nik Dirga returned to Karekare and the ruins of a bach that had been a…

Multiverse epic Everything Everywhere All At Once dominated the Oscars today with seven big wins. Look back all all the action with RNZ's live blog.

The West Auckland suburb of Titirangi has been hit particularly hard by flooding and slips, with multiple locals forced to evacuate, roads cut off and some residents without water for days. Audio

What better time to read than than the holidays? RNZ asked several of Aotearoa's leading authors, critics and book lovers to recommend the best book they read in 2022.

There's plenty of streaming services, but when it comes to classic cinema, the pickings can be lean. RNZ's Nik Dirga looks at 10 iconic movies made before 1980 on top platforms to catch up on.

Look, there's literally too much of everything to watch right now, right? RNZ's Nik Dirga offers some pointers on what might have slipped under the radar.

Change is the word of the day - and most of the major cities in New Zealand will have new mayors after today's local body elections.

Today is New Zealand's official Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day public holiday, with a wide range of events planned and closures around the motu to honour Her Majesty. Audio

Midnight Oil blazed through Auckland on their farewell tour last night. Nik Dirga celebrates the legacy of a band that changed his way of thinking about the wider world. Audio

It's one of the biggest buzz words online these days: NFTs. Are they a gimmicky, expensive status symbol or are they a starting point for a technological revolution? RNZ is here to clear it all up.

Opinion - I watched a mob of angry, disaffected and violent people storm the seat of my government, waving flags and placards and attempting to force change. That was just over a year ago. Yesterday…

First Person - Nik Dirga wasn't going to make the trip home to California until things returned to "normal" but a family emergency saw him board on a plane only two weeks after Omicron first emerged.

New Zealand artist Robert Ellis died this week at the age of 92, leaving behind a prominent body of artwork that brought together pakeha and Māori influences. Audio

Analysis: Two deadly viruses exist currently - one is Covid-19, the other is misinformation. Unfortunately, there's only a vaccine for one of them, Nik Dirga writes.

In Level 4 2020, it was all about Tiger King and Schitt's Creek. Now, we're all here for Ted Lasso and The White Lotus. Nik Dirga takes us through 10 streaming picks to beat the lockdown blues.

Opinion - Two conflicting statements: 'I can't believe this is happening' and 'I knew this would happen' are being repeated as Washington DC collapses into violence and anarchy, Nik Dirga writes.

A highly unscientific poll of American friends asking them for one word to sum up their feelings heading into US election day resulted in words like "terror", "nauseous" and "despair", writes Nik…

Opinion - With the quick, hypocritical confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court, there's little justice to be found, writes Nik Dirga.

New Zealand has got on top of Covid-19, ensuring a sense of normality, but for Americans like Nik Dirga it seems indecent to celebrate in the face of the stresses piling up in the US.

Opinion - For a brief time last night, a mostly empty church in Wellington felt like a beacon of light, with two artists broadcasting creativity and comfort around the world, writes Nik Dirga.

The Pop-Up Globe will make its final curtain call in Auckland next month after five seasons and, as Nik Dirga writes, parting is such sweet sorrow.

The Bird of the Year competition has flown the coop for another year, but the country's birds require attention all year round writes Nik Dirga, who volunteers at an Auckland bird centre.

First Person - Blood clots kill tens of thousands of people worldwide every year. With World Thrombosis Day this weekend, Nik Dirga writes of his brush with death.

A lack of movement on gun control in the face of hundreds of mass shootings in the US is maddening, but nothing will change, writes Nik Dirga, an American journalist living in New Zealand.

Review: Like the kids in Stranger Things, Nik Dirga was a gawky American 13-year-old in the summer of 1985, and writes that the hit Netflix show gets an awful lot of the era right. Video