Confession time. When did you last lie? Was it to your employer? To a lover, client or friend? Or to yourself? And when were you last lied to? Not as long ago as you think.

Career-suicide time. I am going to tell you some of my lies. Not many: I might be untruthful, but I am not insane. Just enough to test an idea. Would society fall apart if we all, for some reason, started being honest?

I last lied a few seconds ago. I am supposed to deliver this tale of deceit today. But who wants to tell 4m people their secrets? I'd rather reveal someone else's. So I have written nothing. And then, bam! An e-mail arrives seeking to confirm that the deadline is Wednesday. This is a mistake. Yes! An extra 48 hours, and no need to be sacked! Of course the deadline was Wednesday. I confirm this immediately.

An alpha male of my acquaintance, who tells the odd pork pie, thinks that lying is a survival mechanism, and that without it, society cannot function. And I have to tell you one truth straight away. I disagree with him. The world would be a less interesting place without lies. But I do not think it would end. I disapprove of lies, although I tell them - perhaps because I tell them. So, first, I am going to tell you what this high-achiever thinks. And then we can make our own judgments.

Writer: 'There are evolutionary advantages to lying.'

Alpha male (a figure successful enough to be in Who's Who): 'Not only evolutionary advantages but social and commercial advantages too.'

Writer: 'Yes.'

Alpha male (married, according to Who's Who, with two sons and a daughter): 'If every guy went home and said to his wife, 'I have to confess this. Today I saw a woman at the photocopier and I wanted to f*** her. If she'd come up to me and said, let's get a hotel room, I would have considered it,' no marriage would survive. No marriage can survive honesty.'

Writer (single): 'No.'

Alpha male: 'Lying enables people to cope. Where would we be if we were all not just economical with the truth but truthful? Let's whisper it quietly: we are born to lie. If we didn't, we'd be dead or extinct.'

So that's a top man. And before you disagree, holding yourself out as someone who tells the truth, do this quiz. Is faking orgasm, as practised by the majority of British women, a lie? Would it be setting a bad example to your children to plan a birthday surprise for your spouse, and to make up an excuse for how you have been using their time? When did you last give your boss an unwelcome answer? Not straightforward, is it?

Evidence of our dishonesty is all around.

A survey of office workers found a greater willingness to fib in the UK than elsewhere: 11% of Britons admit denying receipt of e-mails, much higher than the Spaniards (4%), French and Italians (3%) and Germans (1%). Is this the real Anglo-Saxon model? Do we live in greater anxiety, and protect ourselves with lies? A Gallup poll found that, on average, the British tell as many as 20 untruths a day. If Americans are anything to go by, we lie once for every three minutes our mouths are open. Robert Feldman, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts, asked people to carry hidden video cameras to record their conversations. Watching the tapes, they counted the deceptions. The average tally was three for every 10 minutes of conversation. 'One woman heard herself on the telephone, sympathising with her boyfriend, who was sick,' Feldman says. 'At the time, she told us, all she was thinking was, 'What a big baby.''