It's time to apologise. Jeremy Corbyn says he’ll apologise for the Iraq war if he is the next leader of the Labour Party. Along with the wearily awaited Chilcot report to explain and apportion blame, this could offer some degree of closure and some lessons to be learnt. Apologising when things go wrong for patients should be a simple matter.

For UK doctors, the need to be open and be honest with patients is enshrined in guidance from the General Medical Council. But it’'s not always clear when to apologise or how to do so without necessarily admitting or apportioning blame. Sadly, as Nigel Hawkes explains, the UK’s new statutory duty of candour doesn’t entirely resolve these questions (doi:10.1136/bmj.h4474). After explaining the law, he concludes: "the position now—paradoxical, some may think is that doctors should apologise promptly after a safety incident, whether the mistake is…