Brad Wall is the latest politician to get caught doing something naughty then after being faced with demands for apologies, he says he “regrets” his action.

Now me, I have no problem with what he did.  Probably dumb to go blabbing about it in speeches, but the act itself, talk about a non-story.

But saying that you “regret” something is not an apology.  If you apologize for something, then that means you are communicating the following:

• The action was wrong and hurt someone
• You accept the consequences or punishment for having done it
• You wish to restore or heal the hurt
• You promise to act to restore the hurt (or better, you do it).

Saying you “regret” something means:

• You wish you hadn’t done it
• You don’t want to face the consequences of having done it
• You have no interest in restoring whatever hurt you caused

If there was one wish I could wish about the media, it would be that they start holding these politicians accountable to apologies, instead of letting them get off with expressions of “regret”, embarrassment, etc.