This is prompted by hearing that Bridget Phillipson is to apologise to the victims of forced adoption in the 1940s-70s, but this use of apologise has given me pause for thought before.
IMO apologising is admitting some degree of personal responsibility or involvement which I don't think can be passed on or inherited.
So it seems inappropriate, even a bit glib, for politicians to be apologising for things that happened before they were born. It must be possible to find a form of words expressing deep regret at what happened and sounding sincere.
I'm not sure that victim is the right word either but less easy to think of an alternative.
