Sorry might be the hardest word but it shouldn’t be this difficult

If, as Sir Elton John had it, sorry really is the hardest word then our ministers must have missed a memo. Over the last 18 months, they have been delivering apologies the way Sir Elton buys flowers.

By now, we know the script as well as they do. A general statement of regret for all the mistakes that have been made without a specific apology or acceptance of responsibility for any of them; an insistence that everything was done with the best of intentions and then, to round things off, a quick aside to point out England committed the same errors or worse (which is sometimes true, often not, but almost always beside the point).

So while we are waiting for an apology that, well, you know, genuinely registers some regret for specific things actually happening in the here and now, is it not a little irrelevant to ask for official apologies for things that happened in the dim and distant past?

If, as William Gladstone said, justice delayed is justice denied then there has been a lot of denial since thousands of Scots were accused, convicted and executed for witchcraft. Many of them were women, many of them were mentally impaired. All of them were easy scapegoats for a lame horse, a ruined crop or whatever other mishap had befallen the men in their communities.

So would a pardon, an apology and a memorial make any tangible difference to anyone today? Absolutely not. Would it be the right thing and decent thing? Absolutely. If we cannot even publicly acknowledge the terrible wrong done to these women, what kind of country are we? We cannot make the wrong right but we can address it and apologise for it. It’s not about them, it’s about us.

Anyway, while on the subject of saying sorry, do you know who else deserves an apology? Far too many women officers in Police Scotland.

Of course, there will be many female officers serving in our national force beside good, decent men, who are clearly aware of the essential part they must play in securing a corporate culture stamped by equality, fairness and mutual respect. There are, however, as we are learning week by week, other women officers who work beside sexists and boors, misogynists and creeps. Many of these men should not have a uniform, some of them should not have their freedom.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary is only the latest in a series of official, detailed reports pointing out a persistent seam of sexism running through our national force.

Just how many does it take until Scotland’s women officers experience real change instead of enduring more warm but meaningless words of regret from the executive corridor?