It is obvious the reporters at the South China Morning Post don't read their own paper. What's even more embarrassing is neither do the subbies or editor. The front page is a splash of Guangzhou's new white elephant Baiyun Airport, with fawing coverage under the headline "Easy takeoff with a few minor bumps." The article interviews an American who was waiting an hour and a half after landing to still leave the airport and some nutter who was "so excited" he decided to sleep at the airport just so he could be the first to leave the place. It finishes on the cheery note that a flight from Hong Kong had "some problems with the control tower, which was unable to give clear instructions on where to park." It's not a shopping centre, it's a friggin' airport.

Regardless there's an article a few pages in under the very different headline "Public gives mixed reviews for Guangzhou's showpiece airport". It proceeds to detail the litany of what went wrong: a badly designed terminal, no directions, confusing signs, misallocated baggage, unhelpful staff, dirty and inadequate toilets. Doesn't sound like a few minor bumps to me. No one ever said opening a new airport was easy (and Hong Kong should know) but the SCMP could at least get its stories straight.