Explore the archive

Archives · 2000-01-01 to 2009-12-31 · Page 48

Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.

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
Date range
Browse dates
Categories

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

Browse all category archives

Tags

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: 1,411–1,440 of 4,429

Post

Something cool

· notices and features

Werewolf, new from Gordon Campbell and friends.

Media

Post

Boniface hits the mark

· notices and features

From Linley Boniface in the Dom 0n Monday: ...My kids love hearing about the teacher who used to soak his strap in warm water every morning; about the uncle who was regularly caned on the back of the legs for refusing to get a haircut;…

child discipline

Post

Honest? John?

· John A

Richard Long, Fairfax's in-house media adviser to the National Party, recycles an old line in today's DomPost. Today it's "honest John". Two years ago, just before he was rolled, we posted how it was "honest Don looking like Mr Magoo". "Honest" John's starting to look…

uncategorized

Post

Crosby – Posturing with little substance

· lprent

Lynton Crosby of the political spinners Crosby/Textor, who 'advised' both John Key and Don Brash, has finally given up on trying to pursue a unwinnable defamation case against Nicky Hager and Radio NZ.The case appears to me to have been started largely as intimidation by…

crosby textor john key national

Post

Audrey Young: Goff right, Key wrong

· all_your_base

The Herald asked this morning whose word was more credible on the Worth issue, John Key or Phil Goff. Their political editor Audrey Young has just answered the question for them. "One politician was bound to be deeply embarrassed today, Phil Goff or John Key.…

john key richard worth slippery

Post

Productive debate

· Marty G

There was nothing in the Budget for productivity. Education, the foundation of producitivty, was actually cut when you take into account inflation and population growth. There was a bit more for a few more roads but shaving a few minutes of the commute has no…

bill english economy employment national/act government

Post

Fight for Auckland’s local democracy

· notices and features

Red Alert, the Labour MPs' blog, has a list of upcoming meetings on the supercity. Mt Albert - 5.30pm Tuesday 9 June, Owairaka District Primary School, 113 Richardson Rd, Owairaka, hosted by Phil Goff and David Shearer Waitakere - 7.30pm, Wednesday 10 June, Kelston Community…

activism auckland supercity

Post

Kneecapped

· Guest post

Until now, Melissa Lee's only remaining selling point in this train wreck of a campaign has been that the party she's standing for is currently in Government. As she said in her press release yesterday: 'I am the only candidate that Mt Albert voters can…

mt albert national

Post

The plot thickens?

· Eddie

At his post-cabinet press conference, John Key continued to determinedly fly in a death spiral over the Worth affair. The journalists asked some probing questions on the sexual offending allegations and while Key still refuses to give us the full story, more details are emerging:…

richard worth

Post

Political Chicanery

· notices and features

The Irascible Curmudgeon writes some really good posts. So without apology we republish this little gem on spin and the art of re-writing history. John Key follows the same style - as evidenced by his shifty stories on when he knew about complaints against Richard…

humour spin

Post

Old news

· Eddie

Saw this strange article from NZPA last night. National may be behind in the polls for the upcoming Mt Albert by-election, but nationwide it still maintaining high levels of popularity. The latest nationwide Roy Morgan poll recorded unchanged support for National with 52 per cent…

Media polls

Post

Joke candidate cracks a funny

· Eddie

From Lee's presser yesterday: "I am the only candidate that Mt Albert voters can vote for that will be inside John Key's Government.' Melissa, you're not a minister. Only ministers are members of government.

humour

Post

Cataclysm

· Guest post

Six Degrees Could Change the World This is a documentary detailing the possible effects as temperatures rise throughout the world degree by degree. We are shown deserts spreading out across West/Central America (Stretching from Texas up into Canada) as rains fail to reach there. New…

climate change

Post

3000th Post

· lprent

Well it is that time again. We just rolled over the 3000th post on the site. Number 2000 was in November last year, so it took 7 months - not bad considering that it took 6 months coming up to an election last time. The…

admin

Post

Key endorses Banks

· all_your_base

As if denying Aucklanders the chance to have their say on the super city wasn't enough National now seems determined to tell them who their mayor's going to be too. It's absolutely unacceptable for the PM to be endorsing John Banks as the mayor of…

national

Post

Rhetoric & Reality 3: Crime

· Guest post

One of the most tedious and predictable right wing electoral tactics is to try and whip up a frenzy of fear about crime, especially violent crime. Mix in some "fear of youth" dog whistling for extra impact. Last election National were guilty as usual. The…

crime law and "order" national

Post

The Tank Man

· all_your_base

It was remiss of me not to post on this last week. June 4 marked the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Pictured above is "Tank Man" - an unidentified protester who briefly halted the progress of the Chinese tanks on June 5 1989.…

International

Post

Brains Trust

· Eddie

Whaleoil, John Key, and Melissa Lee. National's policy wonks discuss transport modalities in an oil- and carbon-constrained future.

national

Post

More opposition than ever to supercity

· Marty G

While the mishandling of the Worth scandal grabs all the headlines, the mishandling of the supercity process is still grinding on. And Aucklanders aren't fooled. A ShapeNZ poll released on Friday shows that Aucklanders want more consultation, want a government that really listens, want a referendum,…

auckland supercity

Post

New Zealand’s weakest link

· Zetetic

Is its business leaders. There's Keys, the Fyfes, the Weldons. Who all spend so much money to look good on the covers of magazines. Who expect us to love them. They want to be hailed as messiahs or Atlases carrying the rest of us. These…

economy Environment farming

Post

First moves on Holidays Act reform

· IrishBill

Call me old-fashioned but the Worth scandal doesn't really interest me much. In fact I'm of the opinion that Goff and others should just STFU about it now and let process take its course or risk having some of the unpleasantness of it rub off…

workers' rights

Post

Looking forward to the weekend

· Zetetic

Will be fun to read the Armstrongs, Rolstons, Laws, Holmes, Hooton and the other assorted rightwingers that besmirch our weekend papers. See them desperately to turn Key's handling of Worth's philandering into an attack on Goff. There will be claims that Goff made the harassment…

corruption john key Media phil goff richard worth