Category: Society

Alan Turing is almost one of the forgotten computer pioneers and a hero of World War II. Hardly surprising really; it was the British Government who stripped him of his security clearance at GCHQ when he was convicted in 1952 of being homosexual and who put him under surveillance. He was also sentenced to receive “treatment” – a course of drugs that had the effect of chemically castrating him, and which caused him to grow breasts. As a result, he committed suicide at the age of 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.  The symbol of the half-eaten apple lives on today as the trademark of Apple Computer, in what may be an apocryphal reference to Turing’s role in pioneering computer science and to the manner of his death.

I have to say that over the last twenty years, public knowledge of both the man’s achievements and his persecution have grown, but I am still surprised when I come across folks working today in the computer industry who know nothing about him other than the fact that there’s something called the Turing Test.

Now, a British computer scientist, John Graham-Cumming, has had the idea of petitioning the British Government to make a formal apology to Turing. I’ve added my name to the list of signatories (only open to UK citizens), even though I have some reservations. First, and most obviously, it’s a bit late for Turing. But perhaps more importantly, he wasn’t the only homosexual to have had their life destroyed by the poisonous bigotry of the society at the time. An apology to him should really be an apology to all. I see that Richard Dawkins has become involved with the campaign. He makes the point that a practical outcome would be for the Government to provide a permanent financial endowment to Bletchley Park, where Turing and others contributed so much to the wartime effort.

The campaign also got a mention on Channel 4 News:

 http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1184614595

I note, however, that in keeping with the slipping standards of journalism these days, the video is titled, and introduced, as the campaign to “pardon” him. It’s not a pardon – it’s an apology, you stupid people! Honestly, education standards are not what they were in my day…

Oh, and one last connection: I used to live practically around the corner from where he was born in Maida Vale…

Update: Well, Turing got his apology! Well done to John Graham-Cumming for having the idea in the first place.

I probably should have a series of posts like this. There are times when I look at things in my adopted country, and think to myself (often with a smattering of pride or alternatively, complete incomprehension): “Only in the Netherlands…”

Here’s a case in point, It’s an advert designed to get gay people (because it was on the back cover of the most recent issue of the Gay Krant – the Dutch magazine for gay folks) to apply to become members of the Dutch police force. Translated, it says: “Police, captivating work! – also for you?”. I should perhaps point out that this advert is one of those that I feel proud of.

The gentleman in the picture is Hans Klok, a Dutch magician.

It helps if you imagine a tiny creature inflating its gas bladder to intimidate passers-by.

When I was a child – in Glossop and district – no one supposed that women over 50 were invisible. On the contrary, they blacked out the sky. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder like penalty walls, solid inside corsets that encased them from neck to thigh, so there was no getting past them: if you’d rushed them and butted them with your head, you’d have careened off, sobbing. They stood in bus queues muttering dark threats against the driver. They stood in line in the butcher’s shop, bloodied sawdust clogging their bootees, and amid the loops of sausages and the tripes they talked about My Operation – they boasted of their surgical crises, as Coriolanus boasted about the wounds he got for his mother country. Almost every one of these women was called Nellie, and the others were called Cissie. Why these names are synonymous with effeminate weakness I cannot imagine. 

Television shows such as Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun promised adventure, swimming pools and the good life. A collapsing pound and the credit crunch have brought a harsher reality: homesickness, financial hardship and something those who call themselves "expats" rarely take into account, that they are immigrants – often with all the problems of not understanding the language or the rules. Interestingly, a surprising number of them list immigration as one of the things they dislike about Britain. Few, indeed, come from Britain’s own ethnic minorities.

I find it difficult to raise much sympathy with the plight of such as these. As one commenter puts it:

Am I supposed to feel sorry for British expats in Spain? They invade by the hundreds of thousands, not making a single effort to learn the language or the culture. They turn their villages into Little Croydons and Little Sheffields. And – we learn – one of the things they dont like in Britain is immigration??? Seriously…

Indeed, pot, kettle, black… At least I’ve made an effort to learn Dutch, and become a Dutch citizen in my adopted country…

Here’s a terrific film montage used to illustrate Carl Sagan’s reading a text from his book “Pale Blue Dot”…

I was watching 2001: A Space Odyssey (again!) the other night, and one of the extra features on the DVD included this quote from Stanley Kubrick:

“The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent.

If we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death, our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment.

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

Amen to that.

‘Wim Kuiper, director of the association for Christian education, is "forcefully recommending cabinet to follow the advise [sic]". He says orthodox schools should be allowed to refuse to employ people who are gay as well as (straight) couples who live together without being married because their "lifestyle does not square with the bible". But he added that only about a hundred of the 2,200 Christian schools abide by that principle. "The Christian mainstream has employed gay teachers for a long time."  

Yusuf Altuntas, who represents an umbrella organisation for Islamic schools, announced it is "happy there is finally clarity" on the issue. He says gay teachers can draw their own conclusions. "Judaism, Christianity and Islam disapprove of acting gay (…) If that is what you are, apply at a different school. There are plenty of jobs at non-denominational schools."  

Here’s a post to extol the virtues of traditional crafts and craftsmanship. Last Sunday, there was an event held in our local small town of Varsseveld. Billed as an “Old-timers’ day” (you can understand why I felt right at home), it was a combination of a market, an exhibition of vintage cars and tractors, and folk dancing.

It was charming in its simple way, but I do want to draw your attention to the fact that Varsseveld is the home of the Dutch Clogmaker Champion. Jurjen Jolink has won the title for the last two years running.

While the painted clogs are sold as souvenirs, the everyday clogs are still worn by a lot of folks around here when they’re out working in their fields or gardens.

“We were carried here on the backs of the millions of gays and lesbians that went before us… some of whom paid for the struggle against prejudice with their very lifeblood.”