• EVERY week we find these columns filled with a wide variety of issues; some of them are local and some have a wider resonance.

I am not sure how many of these letters provide a good laugh but I have a salutary story which may serve not only to amuse but also to illustrate that we are, after all, only human.

Several months ago I sent an email with the following text. It started: “Aren’t our mobile things the greatest thing since sliced bread, although I don’t think I have come across a mobile which actually slices bread.”

At this point I fell asleep!

Imagine my surprise when the text was printed in the next issue. So I must have pressed the “Send” button in error as I fell asleep.

All credit to the New Journal for using a one-sentence quip for what was going to be another serious article about the evils of mobile phones. Let’s leave that for another day!

CHRISTOPHER MASON, NW1