If I Ruled The World Mark Galeotti

Dr Mark Galeotti is a scholar and writer, whose career has stretched from being attached to the British Foreign Office to teaching about organised crime in Moscow

- Dr Mark Galeotti

We’d introduce a “Stuff Happens” law. It seems that whenever something bad happens, the first question is, “Who is to blame?” and the second is, “What’s the compensation?” When someone really is at fault, whether it’s a business owner who sold substandard goods or a government that blundered, then of course there ought to be an apology, prompt measures to put things right, and, if appropriate, some kind of recompense. But sometimes, “stuff happens” and it shouldn’t be so hard to prove that no one actually did wrong. It’s infantilising, it’s counterproductive, and it’s just plain stupid.