Are you honest?

Honesty is one of those virtues that everyone insists on, claims resolutely for themselves and criticises their rivals for not possessing. Yet if we were really honest, we'd admit that there are grey areas – that we all, from time to time, bend the rules a little, and that anyone who was totally, utterly and embarrassingly honest would be a giant pain in the rear. Try the following test to see just how you measure up in the honesty stakes.

You oversleep for a crucial business meeting at work. When you dash in, in a breathless and flustered state, you apologise by:

For the fourth consecutive year, you forget your sensitive best friend’s birthday. So you:

You are just about to draw some money from a cash point when you realise the previous customer's card is still firmly held and registered in the machine. You:

On entering your kitchen one morning, you find your housemates in the midst of a blistering debate over who left the freezer door open last night and succeeded in defrosting its entire contents. It was you. You:

While out on a shopping trip, you notice a bulging wallet on the floor at your feet. You:

Your sister parades around, showing off her latest designer outfit. Alas the skirt is unflatteringly short, the top is too tight and the color clashes horribly with her hair. When asked for your opinion, you:

Your partner has spent the day agonisingly cooking up a feast for a special treat. Unfortunately you loathe the main ingredient, and the meal tastes revolting. When asked if you like it, you:

Builders have been wandering in and out of your house during a course of renovation. You’ve made a point of covering the hall carpet to prevent any damage, but in fact it needs replacing and is insured against such things as damage due to building work. When the idea of putting in a claim to fund a replacement springs up, you:

A wild night partying ends in disaster as you accidentally leave a match burning on a table, which later leads to a minor but still damaging fire at your host’s home. When the cause of the blaze is being discussed, you:

A colleague presents you with her long-awaited manuscript for a novel. Eager for your opinion, she calls a week later to seek your approval. Alas the storyline is predictable and it's poorly written. You:

The day of an important corporate exam is drawing near, and your confidence is not at its highest. While waiting for your supervisor to return to her office, you notice the confidential examination documents on her desk. You:

A department store’s security bells start screaming out as you leave the shop. Is this most likely to be because:

Leaving a parking space goes disastrously badly, you reverse into an immaculate sports car behind you. To your relief nobody has witnessed your bad judgement, which has left the sports car’s bumper badly, and expensively, dented. You:

Your monthly pay has accidentally been paid into your bank account twice. You:

Having saved up for months, you finally splash out on the stereo of your dreams. At the cash desk, a daydreaming sales assistant undercharges you by a substantial amount. You:

Saturday night arrives, and you dress up to try to gain entry to an elite party you are not officially invited to attend. You nervously arrive at the party’s entrance and psych yourself up to bluff an entry. When a prestigious guest greets you with a flourish and mistakenly assumes you to be another genuine invitee, you:

A colleague dashes up to you one morning at work, breathless with thanks for your solving an unforeseen crisis the day before. The problem is that wires have got crossed and you didn’t have anything to do with it, but you know the person that did. You:

You agree to take on some urgent freelance work to supplement your salary. The work is not done under supervision, and your temporary employer agrees to pay you on an hourly basis. When it comes to declaring the hours worked, you:

At the end of a glamorous ball, you discover your coveted coat is missing from the cloakroom, so you:

Would you consider lying to your mother to be:

Do you consider lying to your boss to be:

Which of the following is most likely to indicate when you last told a lie, of whatever magnitude?

The application form for your dream job demands details of experiences and skills you do not possess. You:

Your partner finds an affectionate note from a friend unknown to him/her in your jacket pocket. Upon confrontation you:

To your horror, you accidentally knock a glass off a shelf, which careers down onto your computer keyboard, and crashes the system irretrievably. The computer is only guaranteed against technical faults and not accidents. You: