News1 min ago
Just Broke: Turing Given Royal Pardon!
120 Answers
Answers
This straight, white, Anglo-Saxon male thinks it's brilliant news.
02:29 Tue 24th Dec 2013
//by the laws of the time he was guilty so they can't overturn his conviction.//
maybe not overturned, but annulled. Part 5 Chapter 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 allows people to apply for the Secretary of State to disregard criminal convictions for homosexual acts by consenting adults under section 12 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, or the "gross indecency between men" section of that Act. Clause 86 confirms the effect of a successful application would ensure the person is considered as having not committed, nor been charged, prosecuted or convicted of a homosexual act.
Well we have an apology and a pardon now, so that's the best of both worlds! I don't know, Naomi, I just think you're being too harsh on the government. Alan Turing is now no longer a criminal. By extension, I think that is applying to most other people like him who got caught up in a wrong and stupid law. Far better than recriminalising it as has just happened in Uganda, and frankly something worth being thankful for in comparison rather than condemning.
Mushroom, I didn't know that. Wonder why it's not been more widely publicised.
Mushroom, I didn't know that. Wonder why it's not been more widely publicised.
AOG...there was a typo in my earlier post. What I meant to say was that the Police PERSECUTED Turing, But actually, my typo was also correct ! Turing was prosecuted by the Police as well, as the CPS didn't come into existence until 1986. The Plods were making such a balls-up of being the investigating authority as well as the prosecuting, that a Royal Commission recommended that the two roles should be separated. Its all here ::
http://
Emmie was correct in her post of 09:45. The Plods acted as agent provocateurs.
They remind me of that story about an old lady that calls 999 in a high state of anxiety. She tells the Police that there is a young man in the block of flats opposite who is exposing himself at the window. The Police rush around there and find the old lady sitting on a chair beside her window, all of a flutter. They look out of the window, up and down and left and right but can't see anything happening.
"Oh no" the old lady said, "you have to stand on the chair to see him"
There has been much discussion on here this morning around the "we can't pardon Turing because we can't pardon all the rest that were prosecuted for the same offence "
Why can't we ? Parliament has just awarded itself a huge pay rise, and the Civil Service is already well rewarded. Lets get them to work for their money. It shouldn't be too difficult to issue some kind of public statement from up on high, that says that gay men who were prosecuted didn't really do anything terribly wrong really and were treated appallingly. An apology is what is needed here, not some long-drawn out legislation. Its not often you see Gordon Brown being praised anywhere, let alone here on AB, but he deserves some recognition for his comments made in The Telegraph in 2009. We could put the Royal crest at the top and tell Betty to sign the apology at the bottom of the page and its all done and dusted.
I am not sure if Alan Turing is a gay icon...if he is, then its the first I have heard of it. Carmen Miranda perhaps, Judy Garland, even our own dear Elton John, but Alan Turing ! Not terribly likely.
Editor...amen to that ! Its not a bad idea for the rest of the year as well !
http://
Emmie was correct in her post of 09:45. The Plods acted as agent provocateurs.
They remind me of that story about an old lady that calls 999 in a high state of anxiety. She tells the Police that there is a young man in the block of flats opposite who is exposing himself at the window. The Police rush around there and find the old lady sitting on a chair beside her window, all of a flutter. They look out of the window, up and down and left and right but can't see anything happening.
"Oh no" the old lady said, "you have to stand on the chair to see him"
There has been much discussion on here this morning around the "we can't pardon Turing because we can't pardon all the rest that were prosecuted for the same offence "
Why can't we ? Parliament has just awarded itself a huge pay rise, and the Civil Service is already well rewarded. Lets get them to work for their money. It shouldn't be too difficult to issue some kind of public statement from up on high, that says that gay men who were prosecuted didn't really do anything terribly wrong really and were treated appallingly. An apology is what is needed here, not some long-drawn out legislation. Its not often you see Gordon Brown being praised anywhere, let alone here on AB, but he deserves some recognition for his comments made in The Telegraph in 2009. We could put the Royal crest at the top and tell Betty to sign the apology at the bottom of the page and its all done and dusted.
I am not sure if Alan Turing is a gay icon...if he is, then its the first I have heard of it. Carmen Miranda perhaps, Judy Garland, even our own dear Elton John, but Alan Turing ! Not terribly likely.
Editor...amen to that ! Its not a bad idea for the rest of the year as well !
Alan Turing was a genuine war hero and maths/computing icon. For his record to have a criminal conviction for homosexuality on it was, nowadays, not so much a reflection on him as a reflection on our country. The fact that it's been expunged is simply us, as a country, admitting we were wrong and putting the record straight. Not saying we were sorry - Gordon Brown did that and it was the best thing he ever did - but putting the record straight.
I'm glad that Turing has been "pardoned", purely because of what he did in the war. but having said that, lets not get carried away.
Turing picked up an unemployed 19 year on the street in Manchester and took him home. later his house was burgled, by a friend of the 19 year old. during the police investigation Turing's relationship with the youth emerged. the police didn't persecute him, they simply stumbled across what was undoubtedly a crime (at that time) and were obliged to follow it up.
Turing picked up an unemployed 19 year on the street in Manchester and took him home. later his house was burgled, by a friend of the 19 year old. during the police investigation Turing's relationship with the youth emerged. the police didn't persecute him, they simply stumbled across what was undoubtedly a crime (at that time) and were obliged to follow it up.
"...probably just an example of what the government should be doing - quietly getting on with the job with the minimum of fuss."
Of course you are joking, mush.
Listen to the BBC News, particularly on a Sunday morning. There you will hear "headlines" which consist almost entirely of items which begin:
"The government will announce...; Mr Cameron has pledged...; the government has devised a new policy...."
All this government activity before 9am on a Sunday morning (much of which undergoes a rethink on Monday and has suffered a U-Turn by Wednesday).
No, the government does not get on quietly with anything it wants us to know about but is masterly at carefully concealing what it does not want us to hear.
Of course you are joking, mush.
Listen to the BBC News, particularly on a Sunday morning. There you will hear "headlines" which consist almost entirely of items which begin:
"The government will announce...; Mr Cameron has pledged...; the government has devised a new policy...."
All this government activity before 9am on a Sunday morning (much of which undergoes a rethink on Monday and has suffered a U-Turn by Wednesday).
No, the government does not get on quietly with anything it wants us to know about but is masterly at carefully concealing what it does not want us to hear.
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// ludwig, i have known many homosexuals and they only wanted to be themselves, get on with their lives, to love who they wanted without the law come crashing down on their heads. Now the laws have been changed, and not before time //
I'm not sure why you addressed that to me emmie. I didn't say or imply that I believed differently.
I'm not sure why you addressed that to me emmie. I didn't say or imply that I believed differently.
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