As January stumbles, coughing and spluttering, into its last hours, we look back on a week bursting with apologies. Mark Rutte said sorry for the Dutch government's involvement in the Holocaust, while Arie Slob said 'sorry, there's no more money' to striking teachers. Two ministers were appointed to shake up the tax office, which is still apologising to parents over the child benefit scandal. National train operator NS, meanwhile, made no apology for its approval ratings, while the government thought twice about asking people stranded in Wuhan to pay for their emergency flights home. In our discussion we look at two contrasting approaches to drug policies by coalition parties and ask: can we mention the 'e' word this far out?