Lies, damned lies, and our dearly beloved

It's not just politicians you know, we are all big fat liars.
Nicola Adam, Group EditorNicola Adam, Group Editor
Nicola Adam, Group Editor

As we come out of the election bubble wondering if any of the outrageous promises and statistical justifications were actually true, we have to be honest.

Reality is, if you are human, the likelihood is you should be renamed Pinnochio.

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Even the ‘most honest’ people lie, we just can’t help ourselves.

You never lie?

You are probably lying to yourself right now.

We even, frequently, know when we are being told a porker, with some people better than others at reading body language and those telling mannerisms.

We even appreciate being lied to sometimes.

The phrase ‘truth hurts’ is well, true.

Based on research and no lie, by age four around 90 per cent of children have grasped the concept.

Parents are the most lied-to people on earth, with most untruths sailing through unchallenged - after all we may all be liars but we are also optimists, particularly when it comes to the fruit of our loins.

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By the time us humans have grown up, 60 per cent of us can’t manage a 10-minute conversation without a few whoppers - though, of course, what is important is why.

We lie most to those we care about.

Friends. Siblings. Our dearly beloved.

Mainly because we care about them and don’t want to hurt them, or that’s what we tell ourselves.

Often, we lie to colleagues and let colleagues lie to us without criticism.

Managers sometimes lie to soothe and maintain a team, while employees lie to impress, to appear more confident, to persuade themselves they can achieve something and to protect feelings.

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Lying is complex and not always conscious or for the wrong reasons.

The places we are most likely to embellish the truth or tell an outright untruth are on CVs, on dating websites and in discussion of food and exercise regimes.

For obvious reasons, they are also the lies most likely to be exposed.

While worrying about the emergence of ‘fake news’ we should be looking closer to home for just that.

But at least our loved-ones are lying to us because they love us.

Honest.

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