Sometimes political arguments can be about the most important issues facing the country in the decades to come.

And sometimes they can be about the most insignificant and pointless issues that it's possible to imagine.

During a general election campaign, however, any errors or omissions are seized on by opponents and magnified in the glare of media publicity and gleeful press conferences.

So far, none of the three main parties has managed to avoid making the odd mistake in its printed literature.

Such errors can generally fall into two categories.

As in the case of Ed Matts, the Conservative candidate in Dorset South who doctored a photograph of himself protesting against the deportation of asylum seekers, there are those which raise genuine issues of judgement or policy.

But there are also those typos that are so mind-numbingly insignificant that you could probably find dozens of them in any newspaper (or website).

Oddly, this latter category has taken on improbable significance in recent days.

A Conservative leaflet was attacked for telling residents in North Yorkshire that a local hospital had experienced 247 cases of the MRSA superbug when in fact there had been six.

Similar leaflets promoted anger in Twickenham, south west London, where 166 MRSA cases were cited even thought the two local hospitals had only experienced 60 in 12 months.

The Conservatives said sorry, confessing that a simple misprint should have referred to "local hospital trusts" rather than the "local hospital trust".

Their apology, however, did not stop Tony Blair criticising them for running a "nasty and unscrupulous" campaign.

Taking things to an even more absurd level, however, the Tories on Monday highlighted an incorrect date in Labour's new health manifesto.

"In 1998 we agreed a rise in National Insurance Contributions to fund the NHS," said the manifesto.

The prime minister has always said the decision to increase NICs was taken after the 2001 election, but shadow chief secretary to the Treasury George Osborne said the document proved such claims were a lie.

"This extraordinary slip reveals the true extent to which he is prepared to deceive the British public," Osborne improbably claimed.

Labour said the mistake was a typo that should have referred to 2002.

Not wanting to be left out in the slipshod printing department, the Liberal Democrats have also been getting in on the act.

Julien Foster, the Conservative candidate for Leyton and Wanstead, said he "could not resist" highlighting a Lib Dem leaflet handed out in his constituency.

The document sought to offer '10 good reasons to vote Liberal Democrat' but only managed to list nine.

"I suppose it was inevitable that the Lib Dem campaign would run out of steam, but even I didn't think that would happen while they were trying to count to 10," said Foster.

All of which only goes to prove that to err is human but having a good proof reader helps - especially at election time.