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Search · humour · Page 27

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: 781–810 of 1,031

Post

Ned Flanders without the moustache

· the sprout

Last night on TV3's 7 Days panelist Jeremy Elwood described John Key as "New Zealand's very own Ned Flanders without a moustache." Ned's a pretty complex character, with quite a lot of suppressed rage and a dark side that makes his hyper-cheerful niceness actually more…

humour john key

Post

Crimestoppers!

· IrishBill

I've been meaning to post on the emergence of Crimestoppers in New Zealand for a few days now. While some might say it's a nasty and divisive idea funded by a dodgy Tory and likely to encourage a fascistic culture of mistrust if anyone ever…

crime humour

Post

Key’s speeder-gate

· Eddie

When they're struggling to defend Bill English's housing rip-off, or John Key's clowning, or Richard Worth's dodgy dealings, or Anne Tolley's incompetence, or Paula Bennett's bullying, righties will still often try to deflect by recalling the time the car Helen Clark was in sped in Canterbury.…

humour john key

Post

Dipton Watch

· r0b

Greetings to the good people of Dipton.  Must be fun to be so much in the news lately!  I hope some local entrepreneurs are working out how to make good on all the free publicity. I'd expect Dipton's high profile in the media to last…

bill english humour

Post

I live in Dipton!

· r0b

That last post was probably a bit dull for a Friday morning, so now for something completely different. I was a little surprised last night to see on Scoop the following worthy publication: Plain English - No. 2, 2009 Welcome to Plain English, my regular…

bill english humour

Post

Bomber’s War on News

· the sprout

If you haven't been able to see it yet or can't get Triangle/Stratos, here's a link to recent episodes of Bomber Bradbury's War on News. It's entertaining, accurate and educational all at once. Kind of like PBS only a bit more 'informal'. It's also pretty…

activism broadcasting humour Media news tv

Post

Dispatches from the parallel universe, John Key 1940

· Guest post

The Standard, 12 June 1940 WELLINGTON Prime Ministerial candidate for the Nationalists, Mr John Key, today laid out his party's policy regarding New Zealand's participation in the current War. "Let me state clearly and unequivocally that, despite our past position, my Party now believes wholeheartedly…

climate change humour john key

Post

Productivity Czar’s latest initiative

· Guest post

Leaked emails from the National Government's Productivity Task Force have confirmed rumours circulating in senior journalist circles that the Tooth Fairy is to be sacked. The emails include statistical data and market research supplied by the Business Round Table which indicate that the Tooth Fairy…

humour

Post

Clown-in-chief

· notices and features

A hilarious send up of Key that pretty much everyone would have missed because it aired on Nightline on Friday.

humour john key

Post

Reverse Midas Touch

· the sprout

And so ends a great day's trading under the erstwhile eye of Mr Key. Looks like they won't be inviting John back to give the opening bell at the NYSE.

capitalism humour john key

Post

Socialist America

· r0b

The health care debate going on in America is a very serious debate, and who wins it has important implications for what kind of direction America takes from here (more in a later post perhaps). The Republican / Conservative / talk back radio framing of…

capitalism health humour International

Post

Understanding political behaviour

· the sprout

It seems political scientists could learn a thing or two from anthropologists after all. "Neanderthals were not the gentle, almost-human creatures portrayed in the media over the last 50 years..." No surprises there mate.

act humour science

Post

Outage

· lprent

The outage earlier this evening was due to the hosting company taking the server down.. We will be rebooting the host machine to update its kernel and apply some other fixes. The reboot will occur at approx 2200 PT (10pm Pacific time) on Sunday September…

admin humour

Post

The entertainer

· Zetetic

It's kind of funny how in a year we've gone from expecting a Prime Minister to be hugely competent and across the details to being used to having a dude who everyone knows is just an actor, playing the part. The other week, Henry told…

humour john key

Post

Lyndon on ACT

· notices and features

Found this gem at Fighting Talk. Lyndon Hood examines the act of leaking. Lyndon Hood: Act Doesn't Feel Climate Heat Click to enlarge The Act party, in their minority report on the recent review of the emissions trading scheme, have argued that man-made global warming…

act humour

Post

Going forward…

· Tammy Gordon

Like r0b, I'm the new kid on The Standard's block. Sounds like he got the cool initiation. I, on the other hand, had to go to a three hour meeting and, under brutal interrogation, denounce all my previous boyfriends with dubious political credentials. Plus they…

humour

Post

Sohole.

· lprent

In Ponsonby there is a bloody great big hole which is all that remains of the unlamented DYC  Vinegar factory. It has been affording the locals some amusement between bouts in hearings. The site was to be a $250 million mall. The hole was dug…

community democracy humour

Post

Why blog?

· r0b

So, against my better judgement I'm now a card carrying Standardista. Finally managed to get through the initiation ceremony without fainting. I've been issued with a pass card and retina scanned for the Secret Standard Bunker buried deep beneath Parliament. I have access to the…

blogs humour

Post

“Science”

· Guest post

ACT Party Press Release 1/4/2010: ACT has now identified the number one threat to personal freedom, to unbounded economic growth and to vast wealth for all who deserve it. It is "science". "Science" creates nothing but trouble. "Science" causes climate change. The essence of the…

act climate change humour science