Sooner or later, all journalists are struck by the curse of the literal - when one errant letter can lead to humiliation.

Spare a thought then for the correspondent responsible for a piece which appeared on the Daily Mail's website this week.

I know the weather's been a bit nasty lately but it's not often you get parts of the country being hit by snot. Forget the big freeze - it's the big sneeze.

The Northern Echo: