On Governments and Apologies

Every now and then a Government will come out and apologise for significant historic events, not least of which was Rudd's apology to the stolen generations right after his election in 2007. That event, in particular, was of national significance and was an emotional event for all Australians.

This week another such apology by another Government, albeit on a far lesser scale than the aforementioned, caught my eye.

Being a mathematician I am familiar with the name Alan Turing. His work in cryptanalysis was crucial to Allied efforts in breaking the German Enigma codes, and he also worked with some of the earliest computer, with concepts named after him such as the Turing test and Turing machines.

What I was unaware of was that he was also gay, and a few years after the War was one of many homosexual men who were treated abominably by the British. In this day and age it is inconceivable that a Western country could be publicly permitted to commit such atrocities.

And thus Gordon Brown apologised on behalf of his country's government for the treatment of this wartime hero. A small gesture, a token gesture, but nonetheless one that I can appreciate.