There are times when a writer will choose a subject, write a piece, simply because there is one pun or line that they want to see published. If it were not for that one glorious phrase that the writer has thought up the subject matter would not be sufficient to bring the story onto the radar screen. An example from this morning’s Telegraph about the rivalry between two manufacturers of smallpox vaccine. Small companies, companies that would not normally be covered in a business section of such august stature. The final line, to describe the method of their fight, should it ever come to that?:

If not, maybe they should challenge each other to a duel. Pustules at dawn, perhaps?

My bet is that the line came first, a pun mentioned in the office or over the phone, then the whoile piece drafted just so that it could be used. What fun.