# Gordon Brown issues apology for treatment of Alan Turing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102 "2009-09-14T23:03:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/1 "2009-09-14T23:03:30Z")
[Apparently internet petitions can do some good after all:](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8249792.stm) > [@](#): > > A petition on the No 10 website had called for a posthumous government apology to the computer pioneer. > > In 1952 Turing was prosecuted for gross indecency after admitting a sexual relationship with a man. Two years later he killed himself. > > … > > Mr Brown, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, said: “While Mr Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him.” The [full text](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/6170112/Gordon-Brown-Im-proud-to-say-sorry-to-a-real-war-hero.html) is online as well. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/2 "2009-09-15T00:00:04Z")
> [@](#): > > I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. He’s… pleased? That just doesn’t scan for me. I understand what he’s probably trying to say (he’s pleased the state of morality has advanced to a point where this apology is politically possible) but it just doesn’t seem entirely like something a live human would say. In short, he just failed the Turing Test. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/3 "2009-09-15T15:19:49Z")
I always suspected Brown was not human. Glad to see it confirmed. 🙂 Poor Mr. Turing. They didn’t deserve him. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/4 "2009-09-15T15:23:34Z")
While I’m happy (proud?) that this has happened, I’ve got to ask – did the online petitions lead to this, or could Dawkins have done without them? Not to hijacks, but I’d honestly like to know if online petitions have forced anyone to cave. They just seem so easy to fudge. (As do print ones, I suppose, if you don’t leave contact info.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/5 "2009-09-15T15:34:10Z")
I have to admit, I don’t really see the point of the apology. Although Turing was obviously treated badly, he’s been dead for 50 years, and so I doubt he’s getting any satisfaction out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/6 "2009-09-16T17:35:09Z")
Gordon Brown’s very good at apologising for stuff other people did decades ago. When people start questioning stuff he’s done, then “McCavity’s not there” ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/7 "2009-09-16T19:34:51Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I have to admit, I don’t really see the point of the apology. Although Turing was obviously treated badly, he’s been dead for 50 years, and so I doubt he’s getting any satisfaction out of it. You don’t see any benefit in a government or institution opening acknowledging times when they were wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/8 "2009-09-16T20:04:38Z")
Not when the people concerned are long since dust. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/9 "2009-09-17T14:20:15Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Not when the people concerned are long since dust. So you think that governments should always maintain that their past actions were correct? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/10 "2009-09-17T14:39:00Z")
I’m against governments retroactively altering the historical verdict in accordance with our current prejudices, especially where no one can be practically compensated thereby. _ **At the time** _ the verdict in Turing’s case would have met with general approval. Should we pardon the men Wellington hanged and flogged in his Peninsula campaigns? No, because their bones are long since dust, even if their offences would not merit the same sanctions today. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/11 "2009-09-17T14:47:52Z")
What a lot of soppy old populist bollocks. He’s too late anyway, I apologised two weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/12 "2009-09-17T16:29:41Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > I’m against governments retroactively altering the historical verdict in accordance with our current prejudices, especially where no one can be practically compensated thereby. So you think that his living family doesn’t get any vindication out of this? And that there aren’t many LGBTetc. people living in the U.K. who don’t appreciate the government acknowledging that its harassment and mutilation of a brilliant man for his sexual orientation was wrong? I’m fairly sure there’s a petition somewhere out there that shows that thousands of people disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/13 "2009-09-18T22:09:44Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > While I’m happy (proud?) that this has happened, I’ve got to ask – did the online petitions lead to this, or could Dawkins have done without them? Not to hijacks, but I’d honestly like to know if online petitions have forced anyone to cave. They just seem so easy to fudge. (As do print ones, I suppose, if you don’t leave contact info.) It’s an easy win for number 10 - I expect the petition catalysed it, but it’s more like the petition pointed out something that GB could do that would be easy and reasonably popular. For the record, I signed the petition and was glad to see the response, but like **Derleth** , I found the ‘pleased’ thing a bit jarringly-worded. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gordon-brown-issues-apology-for-treatment-of-alan-turing/510102/14 "2009-09-24T01:48:55Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > And that there aren’t many LGBTetc. people living in the U.K. who don’t appreciate the government acknowledging that its harassment and mutilation of a brilliant man for his sexual orientation was wrong? Exactly. And the fact that the man was a war hero who was treated hideously by the country he had just helped save makes it all the more poignant. It’s a clear statement that this was wrong and shouldn’t have happened, which is very relevant to the way queer people are treated and the ‘debate’ on our lives is framed today.