Even more interesting than the question during my interview with the Scottish Office than who I would invite to a dinner party was whether I would lie to a journalist. Lies are nearly always found out in the end. So, lying is not a good idea. The question placed me in a dilemma because I knew British Government spokesmen did lie. A guy at the Ministry of Defence had just lied to me about the deaths of nine British soldiers at the hands of the US Air Force during the First Gulf War in 1991. I didn't want to appear naive when answering at the interview. But having never been to a dinner party, I probably wasn't going to get the job anyway.