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Archives · 2011-12-05 to 2011-12-11

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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
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: 1–30 of 42

Post

Sunday afternoon poetry

· Bunji

This is for anyone who's struggled to keep up with the Labour leadership contest, whether currently at the Auckland meeting or not. Too Many Daves by Dr. Seuss Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave? Well,…

labour

Post

Open mike 11/12/2011

· notices and features

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...

open mike

Post

Right-wing Herald element goes OTT

· Mike Smith

John Armstrong's column today - not yet on website - is extraordinary. "Elements on the left", "cried wolf", "secret agenda" - that's just the first paragraph.  Armstrong's faux outrage is generated by the fact that National's charter schools policy was not flagged in the election,…

national/act government privatisation schools

Post

ImperatorFish: The Two Most Powerful Arguments They Can Muster

· notices and features

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here  —————————————————————————– The Two Most Powerful Arguments They Can Muster Let’s sum up the arguments by the main players for and against Charter Schools. Educational experts:…

national/act government schools

Post

I am going to miss the real Aaron Gilmore

· lprent

Someone told me the other day that Aaron Gilmore is a lowly National list MP. I didn't believe them - but it is true! Way down on the National party list and today dropped out of parliament by the specials. It was like a blast…

parody Satire

Post

Carmel wins, Nats down 1, MMP to stay

· Mike Smith

Official Election results are out. Carmel Sepuloni takes Waitakere back for Labour by 11 votes, and National loses one seat to the Greens. MMP wins by a mile. Well done Carmel - I'm really glad she stays in Parliament. I don't think a recount will…

election 2011 MMP referendum

Post

Open mike 10/12/2011

· notices and features

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...

open mike

Post

Auckland candidates meeting moved

· lprent

For the Auckland Labour party members (and others)  going the the candidates meeting on Sunday  has been moved. This e-mail turned up today (from Moira Coatsworth) Due to the huge amount of interest in Sunday's meet the leadership candidates meeting the venue has changed to…

labour

Post

American politics

· Anthony R0bins

Sometimes when I get depressed about NZ politics, I take a few deep breaths and reassure myself that at least it's not American politics. Then I think about that a bit and I get even more depressed... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA

us politics

Post

Weekend social 09/12/2011

· notices and features

Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?

weekend social

Post

A solution to the Bridgeman problem

· Eddie

I have a theory that the Herald employs Shelley Bridgeman, Garth George, Kerry Woodham, Peter Bromhead, Deborah Hill-Cone, Jim Hopkins, and Paul Holmes as columnists only because, while a relatively small team of monkeys on typewriters could spit out much more cogent and insightful pieces…

newspapers

Post

ImperatorFish: Which Candidate Gets My Non-Vote?

· notices and features

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog - the original of this post is here ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which Candidate Gets My Non-Vote? When David Shearer announced he wanted to be Labour leader I didn't know what to think. Then, when it…

david cunliffe david shearer labour

Post

Open mike 09/12/2011

· notices and features

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...

open mike

Post

ImperatorFish: Not Irony #2

· notices and features

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog - the original of this post is here ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not Irony #2 Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar writes: The teacher unions insisted national standards should be trialled before implementation, yet…

dpf national/act government schools

Post

Grant Robertson

· Guest post

We asked the candidates if they want to post here. So we have now received Grant Robertson's post. Thanks for the opportunity to post on The Standard. In this contest I am a candidate for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. In 1997 after…

labour

Post

Your government at work

· Eddie

Paula Bennett's staff in tomato-growing contest with MSD staff - Stuff Benefit numbers up 60,000 under National - MSD Benefit costs up up $2 billion pa in the last 3 years - Treasury  

benefits

Post

ImperatorFish: Not Irony #1

· notices and features

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog - the original of this post is here ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not Irony #1 David Farrar applies some wonky logic in order to blame everything bad the Nats do on the left.…

act dpf national national/act government

Post

The biggest fraud

· Zetetic

In its final days, South Canterbury Finance quietly loaned $300m to related-parties. Breach of the deposit guarantee scheme's rules. Nats did nothing. When SCF collapsed the related parties got off scot-free - if they owned SCF bonds, the Nats even paid them $350m voluntarily. Now,…

capitalism crime

Post

100% Stupid

· Anthony R0bins

Is the John Key Party actively trying to trash New Zealand's fragile "100% Pure" brand? Pushing for mining on Schedule 4 conservation land, a slow response to the Rena spill, pushing for off shore drilling, delaying the ETS, polluted lakes and rivers, breaking a promise…

climate change Conservation Mining national

Post

Open mike 08/12/2011

· notices and features

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...

open mike

Post

The long game on charter schools & national standards

· Eddie

To understand why a party does stuff, you have to go back to their core objectives. Simply looking at policies in isolation means missing the underlying goals. In particular, looking at policies that clearly don't work to achieve their stated aims without context can lead…

class war education

Post

David Cunliffe

· Guest post

We asked the candidates if they want to post here. So far we have received David Cunliffe's post.   Firstly, can I thank Lynn and the authors of the Standard for this opportunity to contribute to the dialogue concerning who should be Labour’s next leader.…

david cunliffe labour

Post

Musings on Mana

· Guest post

David Small has been a activist for social justice for a long time. Notably in the 1981 tour and getting raided by the SIS in 1996. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Canterbury, in the US on Fulbright scholarship,…

greens hone harawira mana maori party

Post

Playing to lose

· Eddie

"That's MMP for you" John Key smugly proclaimed in justification of his charter schools policy. Apparently, it's MMP's fault that he chose to rort the system and then us the one ACT MP as an excuse for unmandated rightwing policies. But why are the Nats…

election 2014

Post

New Zealand – unequal and rising

· Ben Clark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaoGscbtPWU The OECD has a report out - Divided We Stand - about the widening gap between rich and poor across the western world. Launching the report in Paris, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said “The social contract is starting to unravel in many countries. This…

equality

Post

Open mike 07/12/2011

· notices and features

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...

open mike