'Just say you are sorry.' It has become one of the drumbeats of the age. Fresh apologies are demanded every week: from broadcasters, politicians, errant spouses, disgraced bankers, myopic referees. Sometimes an apology is forthcoming, and honour is satisfied. But, for many people, the S-word proves a bridge too far: they shrink from using it even when common sense tells them that they should.

How have we got ourselves into such a tangle over a simple two-syllable word? The English used to be world-champion apologisers: a nature of inveterate sorry-sayers. Now we hardly know if we are coming or going.

Written by serial apologiser Max Davidson, a man who believes in saying he is sorry, then waiting to be told what he is sorry for. Sorry! examines the origins and history of the word 'sorry'; dissects some of the reasons that apologies are seen as a sign of moral weakness; explores the religious notion of sincere contrition; considers the legal consequences of admitting liability; and casts a sceptical eye over the fashion among politicians for apologizing for things that happened in the distant past. Some famous apologies are saluted; some famous failures to apologise deplored.

Praise for It's Not the Winning That Counts by Max Davidson:

'A simple but brilliant idea executed with great skill and judgment', Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail

'A collection of sporting stories whose plots and punch lines quicken the step and lift the heart', Jim White, Daily Telegraph