Sorry??

Once again the question arises over whether it is meaningful for someone to apologise for something which happened in the past, and which they had no part in. We've discussed this before in relation to slavery, and now the Prime Minister will apparently offer an official apology for the policy of sending some children who had been taken into care to the colonies - mainly Australia - supposedly for a better life over there. In reality many were badly treated and abused. At least this is something relatively recent - it was still going on in the 60s - but the problem still is how can you apologise for something which was nothing to do with you? You can certainly accept that it was wrong and bad and promise - to the extent that it is within your power - that it will never happen again, but you can really only apologise for something which was your own fault. Once again, I have the nasty feeling that the word which really lies at the bottom of all this is "compensation".