Sorry. There. That wasn’t so difficult, was it? Apparently though for some people apologising just isn’t possible – particularly if you feel you have done nothing wrong. Ask Lord Rennard.

He is being pursued by a posse of strong Liberal Democrat women – not in any way he might have liked – accusing him of sexual harassment.

Some years ago when the film Tootsie was released – all about Dustin Hoffman playing a role as a woman – I was asked to do the same swap for a day by the paper I worked on.

I had a professional make-up job, a wig, full outfit, and went shopping.

While I like to think I made a good woman, I was dressed in more manly fashion when I briefly ended up sat next to Lord Rennard at a conference. Another opportunity missed.

I was blissfully unaware of his reputation at the time – the one currently being comprehensively trashed.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that an apology for his alleged behaviour would go at least some way to drawing a line under a sorry saga.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has made it clear that the peer will play no part in the next election – despite being credited as a brilliant strategist.

The lord would do himself and the rest of us a favour by accepting with good grace that his future in the party is in the past.

There are those who say the past is another country, one where things were different. What’s certain is Lord Rennard’s passport has run out. He won't make it through customs.

One or two prominent women have taken the view that the accusers should “man up” – possibly not the most appropriate expression in this context.

Truth is that the accusers have done all women a considerable favour in making it clear that unwanted attention in any situation is unacceptable.

That is exactly how it should be anywhere at any time, especially in a work environment.

And this is where I am in danger of skating on thin ice while wearing a heavy backpack.

Every effort has been made, particularly by broadcast journalists, to talk up the allegations to a poisonous and vicious maximum.

Open season has been declared on the Bunteresque lord and there has been a relentless barrage of people joyously putting the boot in where it hurts. Yaroo chaps.

While it is clear and correct that there is a line to be drawn in the sand on what constitutes acceptable behaviour, a tsunami of selfrighteousness has been unleashed.

Some politicians throwing stones have overlooked the fact that the launch sites from which they are operating are located in their own very large glasshouses.

Labour and Conservatives have past form – notably Tory MPs shamefully publicly criticising single mothers while privately increasing their number.

Meanwhile, the daily humiliation meted out to the luckless lord is set to go on while he continues to attempts to deny the alleged original sin.

So now we know, sorry really is the hardest word.