And as long as the prosecutions were clearly well-founded, then the world's financiers who at the moment could be forgiven for looking at Mr Hester and wondering what happened to British respect for contract law should conclude that the City of London is strict but fair, and remains serious about being a good place to do business.
We could all be forgiven for looking at the scenes being played out in Hong Kong and gazing skyward in faint boredom.
Any young woman not from this background can be forgiven for looking at Girls and thinking, "This is not my voice".
But you'd certainly be forgiven for looking at the headlines from the first half of 2011 and wondering whether reverse mortgages have a future.
Skeptics might be forgiven for snickering at the suggestion that this shortage will spur demand and — what else? — drive prices up.
Poor Odette, one might be forgiven for thinking at this stage, just "a type", the word with which the book ends.
Peppino Caldarola, a former editor of the party daily, L'Unita, says he is "embittered, bewildered and disappointed".Foreign investors could be forgiven for sharing at least some of these sentiments.
LIKE their counterparts around the world in just about any other industry, administrators in higher education in the West can be forgiven for looking at the writing on the wall and seeing Chinese characters.
England might have a bit of defending to do this evening, and that's not their strong suit; they could be forgiven for worrying at least a little bit.
This time around, ample hips, a soft shoulder, tiny waist, and breasts so prominent that even the most politically aware onlooker might be forgiven for gawping at them (hello boys!), are dressed in colours and fabrics that are less chintzy and more tweedy, less pink and pretty and more sludgy than M Dior ever intended.
