Nights

Many roads in Manawatu remain cut off, phone lines are down and cellphone reception in some areas is patchy. Helicopters flew over isolated communities to assess the damage from the downpour that hit the already drenched region yesterday. In Te Reureu Valley, up to 30 people were cut off as bridges into the area were washed out. In Feilding, about a dozen people were evacuated because of flash flooding. Bryan chats to Ben Caldwell from Manawatu District Council.

Nights' Toxicologist Leo Schep from Toxiform joins us once again. Tonight he's taking a look at cocaine.

We talk to author Julia Laite about her book The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey - about how a sex worker in Edwardian London, once a photographer's assistant from Wellington, who became a key witness in an historical sex trafficking trial.

Bryan Crump talks to Christchurch council's head of Three Waters, Helen Beaumont.

Ethiopian born Sam Seba, regards his homeland's civil war from the safe - but heart breaking - vantage point of Aotearoa.

Nina Hall, Assistant Professor in International Relations at Johns Hopkins University brings us up to date with the momentous changes happening in Germany.

We're joined once again by Helene Elliot from the LA Times.

Our self confesssed Sci-Fi geek, Eleanor Tremeer takes on the concept of "the chosen one" in sci-fi.

We talk to Aticia 'Teesh' Grey about her new book, Muster Dogs - about her faithfull team of kelpies that were by her side as she took on the manager's role on her family's West Pilbara cattle station just as a devastating drought hit. You can follow Pilbara Working Dogs on facebook.

RNZ is partnering with The MacDiarmid Institute to launch a new podcast for science-fiction fans.  Nicola Gaston, co-director of the MacDiarmid Institute, joins us.