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search syntax

Search syntax

Type words or a Sphinx search expression in the query box. The plugin uses this expression for full-text matching through SphinxQL.

Start with a few words, then narrow the search using these examples, inspired by recent posts on The Standard.

All words
unemployment statistics

Find both words, anywhere in the indexed text. A space means AND; unemployment & statistics also works.

A phrase
"data centres"

Find these words next to each other, in this order. Use straight double quotes, as shown.

Either word
Labour | National

Find either word. Use the vertical bar for OR.

Leave a word out
election -Trump

Find election while excluding Trump. election !Trump also works. Include a positive search word; -Trump on its own is not a valid search.

Group alternatives
(Labour | National) unemployment

Find unemployment together with either Labour or National. Parentheses make combinations easier to read.

Words near each other
"coalition government"~5

Find these words close together, in either order, allowing fewer than five intervening words.

In a title
@title "data centres"

Find the phrase in a post or page title. Comments have no indexed title; select Posts for articles only.

In the body
@body "tactical voting"

Find the phrase in the text of a post, page or comment.

By an author
@author lprent @body search

Find search in the body of items whose indexed author name contains lprent. Use the displayed author or commenter name, which may differ from a login name.

In a category
@category politics

Match words in indexed category names. Use the Categories checkboxes to select a specific category and its descendants.

In a tag
@tags election

Match words in indexed tag names. Use the Tags checkboxes to select a specific tag. Comments inherit their parent post’s categories and tags.

Combine fields
@title election @body (Labour | National)

Require election in the title and either Labour or National in the body. A field applies to following words until another field or the end of its parenthesized group. @* switches back to all fields.

Which fields work with @?

The current index supports @title, @body, @author, @author_full, @category and @tags. @author_full lprent searches the same author text as @author lprent; it uses the same word-matching rules.

The date columns published_utc, calendar_day and date_added are numeric attributes used for filtering, date counts or ordering. They cannot be searched with @: expressions such as @published_utc 2026 or @calendar_day 20261107 produce a query error. Use the From and To (inclusive) controls for dates.

Likewise, use Content for posts, pages or comments, and the Categories and Tags checkboxes for specific terms. Their numeric IDs and content-type attributes cannot be searched with @.

For example, enter @title election, select Posts, set From to 2026-01-01 and To (inclusive) to 2026-11-07, then press Search. This combines the title search with an inclusive date range in the site’s time zone.

Find recent posts

Select Posts only and Newest first. In Text Search or Archive Explorer, set From to one year ago and To (inclusive) to today, then press Search. The sidebar opens Text Search, where you can add these dates. For comments, the date range uses the comment’s own date.

Try @title election, @title "data centres" or unemployment statistics. Recent starting points:

If the results surprise you

Check Content and the date, category and tag filters. English word endings may match the same stem, so quotes fix word order rather than spelling. Wildcard searches such as elect* require index settings that the plugin’s default configuration does not enable.

Enter the expression itself in the box; choose dates and ordering with the controls. For example, use Labour | National for alternatives.

Background: Search upgraded (yet again).

Content
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Names open category archives. Check boxes to combine filters, including subcategories.

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Popular tags and your selections. Names open tag archives; check boxes to combine filters.

Browse all tag archives

Clear all

Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 3,031–3,060 of 4,429

Post

The National Party Old Boys’ Club

· all_your_base

Tane's made the point before but it's worth making again: National may have a new frontman but at its core is largely unchanged - and since being ousted nearly a decade ago, members of the National Party Old Boys' Club have been plotting their return…

same old national

Post

Rubbish

· Tane

John Key's claims that Labour has been digging through the rubbish outside his Helensville electorate office have been dismissed by Michael Cullen this morning as paranoia. However, CCTV footage revealed exclusively to The Standard suggests Mr Key might just be onto something. Remember John, it's…

national spin

Post

Collins beats up on the sick, again

· Tane

The dreadful Judith Collins is once again peddling lies about sickness beneficiaries to try and soften the ground for National to throw our most sick and vulnerable citizens back into work if they ever regain power. In a press release this afternoon, Collins screams: "the…

benefits national

Post

TV3 on the leaks from National’s conference

· all_your_base

Here's the recent coverage from TV3 and political reporter Duncan Garner. On Bill English's comments regarding the sale of Kiwibank (aired August 4, 2008): On Lockwood Smith's hints at a secret agenda (aired August 5, 2008): [Apologies for errors in the previous videos, have re-uploaded…

election 2008 youtube

Post

Judy Kirk – “It was a young Nat”

· John A

Sources tell us that National's President was overheard yesterday to remark "We think it was one of our Young Nats" regarding the National Party Conference revelations. Not only that: 'We think there is more to come." Sounds like rats in the Nats.

national

Post

Mallard to speak at Drinking Liberally, Wellington

· Steve Pierson

After a mysterious three week absence, Drinking Liberally Wellington is back tomorrow evening. Here's the email: We're only half way through a week overflowing with political news so there should be plenty to discuss over a beer tomorrow at the Southern Cross ;) Come join…

drinking liberally

Post

Fallout

· Steve Pierson

National's attempt to contain the meltdown from Bill English's secret agenda comments at the National conference and on TV1 collapsed when it emerged Lockwood Smith was also talking about a secret agenda at the conference. Now, the fallout is raining down on them. So, National…

slippery

Post

Déjà vu

· all_your_base

If you didn't already have enough doubts about whether to trust John Key, Bill English and Lockwood Smith by virtue of the recent revelations here's another one to ponder. A promise to resign over future policy isn't new territory for the Nats. Neither is failing to keep it (click image for larger…

same old national slippery youtube

Post

The stolen emails defence

· Tane

So National has finally reverted to the 'stolen emails' defence to combat the damaging recordings from the weekend's party conference. I'm only surprised it's taken them this long - the misdirection tactic is classic Crosby Textor and it's served the Nats well in the past.…

national spin

Post

Nats’ policy top 10, what’s missing?

· Steve Pierson

Here's the top 10 policy priorities that John Key bullet-pointed at the conference on Sunday. See if you can spot what's missing: 1. Tax cuts. (for the rich) 2. Disciplined Government spending. (while borrowing huge amounts for unspecified government spending) 3. Stop growth of public…

election 2008 national

Post

Did Lockwood mis-speak too?

· Steve Pierson

It has been revealed that Bill English isn't the only senior Nat who has been discussing a secret agenda behind closed doors. On TV3 tonight, a recording was played of Lockwood Smith saying: "There's some bloody dead fish you have to swallow... to get into…

assets national privatisation slippery

Post

Kiwisaver cuts to fund Nats’ tax cuts?

· Steve Pierson

So, the rumour is that Kiwisaver will be slashed to fund National's tax cut policy. Currently, the Government spends up to the following on each Kiwisaver member: - $1000 on sign-up - Up to $1040 a year in matching contributions - Up to $1040 a…

national slippery tax

Post

Clown princes

· Sam Cash

The 'Key-English secret recording followed by denial followed by excuse followed by apology' debacle is, well, an utter debacle. If these clowns ever win an election - which has to be questionable after this sort of political mismanagement - similar antics will make opposition rather…

brand key election 2008 International Media

Post

Key’s shell-game wears thin

· Steve Pierson

On National Radio's Morning Report and Nine to Noon yesterday, Key ran the 'not telling' line once again and it was once too often. Asked a simple question: 'What projects are you going to spend the extra money you plan to borrow on?' Key refused…

election 2008 john key slippery

Post

News coverage of English revelations

· all_your_base

Here's the segment on the English meltdown from TV One last night. [I wanted to put up TV3's as well - it's good coverage, including interviews with KiwiBank customers - but I just can't seem to deal with their flaky video stream (anyone else have…

news same old national

Post

Sarcophagus

· Steve Pierson

After a stunning attack on John Key last night, Bill English is now reverting to more standard National techniques for handling 'accidental frankness'. Initially, deny. When played a recording, claim not to remember it. When that doesn't kill the story, claim to have 'mis-spoken'. Finally,…

assets bill english john key national privatisation slippery

Post

Meltdown

· Steve Pierson

The English tape has exploded into a massive scandal. You'll be familiar with the content of the recording: - English mocks voters as greedy simpletons taken in by a flashy con-man "they're saying that nice Mr Key, he's pretty smart, he will get me some…

assets bill english john key national privatisation slippery

Post

Employment, wages up

· Steve Pierson

Despite the economic slowdown, the labour market is holding up well and wages are up at the record rate. The average hourly wage is now $24, up from $21.90 an hour 2 years ago. That's a 9.6% increase. Take away 6.1% inflation and the average…

economy wages workers' rights

Post

Spin-busting: ‘A growth problem, not a debt problem’

· Steve Pierson

To justify borrowing for tax cuts, National's new line is that New Zealand has 'a growth problem, not a debt problem'. Untrue. (source) New Zealand's growth has been faster in recent years than trend, faster than it was under National, and faster than growth in…

economy national spin

Post

Behind closed doors

· Steve Pierson

The scandal over Bill English's comments at the National Party conference has not only overshadowed Key's purposely vague conference announcements, it has derailed National's entire election strategy. The audio is damning. Clearly and unequivocally, we have National's Deputy Leader saying National will 'eventually' (possibly within…

assets bill english national slippery

Post

Pathetic

· Steve Pierson

Rather than discussing the quote from Bill English that he would sell Kiwibank, David Farrar is whining that the protest outside the National Party conference today breached the EFA because it did not contain authorisation. Once again, Farrar would rather try to attack on technicalities…

activism

Post

A quick Brethren reference

· Dancer

At last an upfront acknowledgement of the Exclusive Brethren's support for National during the 2005 election campaign. According to Colin Espiner: Day One of National's annual conference is nearly over and so far the biggest clanger has been departing Tauranga MP Bob Clarkson's thank-you to the…

election 2008 john key national

Post

Spinbusting: Nats’ borrowing not for tax cuts

· Steve Pierson

Today, Bill English is outlining National's plan to undo the work of the past fifteen years and take this country further into debt. He will argue that National would not be borrowing for its programme of tax cuts for the wealthy, rather it would borrow…

national spin tax

Post

No Right Turn temporarily off air

· all_your_base

A tale of woe from Idiot/Savant: Sometime this afternoon, Blogger, in its infinite wisdom, decided that No Right Turn was a "spam blog" and locked it. I have naturally asked for a review, and sometime in the next two business days (yeah right) someone at…

blogs