By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Caveat reader.

On those days when nothing is going right and all is amiss, take comfort in the knowledge that it could be worse: you could be writing news releases in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office had reporters scouring the Internet for Latin translation services after his office issued a 100-word press release in the ancient language.

The text turned out to be quasi-Latin gibberish routinely used to test font before sending out printed material. An apologetic staffer in Ignatieff's office blamed the head-scratcher on technical gremlins.

That error came one day after staffing chaos in the Liberal leader's office was hamfistedly played out in public and a month after the party began suffering a vertiginous drop in public opinion polls.