https://www.scmp.com/rss/508525/feed Paul Freelend is a production editor at the Post. He has worked at media organisations in China, Indonesia, the UAE, Japan and the US, and he has a Master in International Affairs from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Paul Freelend Paul Freelend Being a buzzkill is an unfortunate but necessary part of my job. As much as I know first-hand the joy of finding that perfect quote to emphasise a point, I also know that all too often said quote is too good to be true. Some errors I’ve weeded out during the editing process over the years: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”; there’s no written trace of Mahatma Gandhi having said this. “Jaw, jaw is better than war, war”; that was Harold Macmillan rather than Winston Churchill. “Let... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3315438/has-trump-started-another-forever-war-not-if-americans-can-help-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3315438/has-trump-started-another-forever-war-not-if-americans-can-help-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:30:08 +0000 Is 50 still considered old? The answer might seem obvious to some, but it’s increasingly less clear in an era of broadly improving longevity in which 40, 50 and even 60 have been described as “the new 30”. This bit of temporal confusion arose because Nasa added to the feeling of everything old being new again by taking the first steps in its return to the moon. The Artemis programme was set to take flight on Saturday with the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the first of a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3191431/how-us-can-avoid-repeating-cold-war-space-race-mistakes-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3191431/how-us-can-avoid-repeating-cold-war-space-race-mistakes-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Sep 2022 19:30:19 +0000 How stupid do our leaders think we are? Pretty stupid, if recent events are any indication. As an American abroad, the past week has provided a deluge of jaw-dropping news to wake up to – the invasion of Capitol Hill, social media platforms banning US President Donald Trump and so on. The events themselves have been widely discussed, but one aspect overlooked repeatedly is the contempt on display for the news-consuming public. Otherwise intelligent, capable people have made transparently cynical... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3117497/what-trumps-twitter-ban-us-capitol-invasion-and-hong-kong-legco?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3117497/what-trumps-twitter-ban-us-capitol-invasion-and-hong-kong-legco?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2021 20:00:11 +0000