When sorry is not the hardest word

I am not quite sure who is the barmiest, those demanding an apology from Gordon Brown for the treatment of Alan Turing or Gordon Brown for issuing one.

I would have thought that old Gordon had more than enough things he might like to apologise for - things which he has actually been responsible for during his Chancellorship and Premiership - without looking for things to say sorry for which have sod all to do with him or his Government..

Gordon Brown was just one when Turing was charged with homosexuality - which, remember, was a crime in 1952. He was three when Turing killed himself, aged 41, two years later, so it is hard to see where he has any responsibility in this case.

In 2009 we can look back on the treatment of Turing - and indeed many more homosexuals - and acknowledge it was appalling. But how can we apologise?

It is all a bit like asking the Danes to apologise for the Vikings, the Italians for the Romans and the French for the Normans.

And are we now going to have an apology for the treatment of Oscar Wilde and a whole host of unknown homosexuals?

There seems to be an obsession, particularly among New Labour, to wear sack cloth and ashes at the drop of a hat. We had Blair's apology for slavery for example, something that we had ended, the first major nation to do so, centuries before New Labour spun its way into power. Yet our Tone was there saying sorry 200 years later to show what a good sort of guy he was.

Now Gordon is at it. The treatment of Alan Turing was shameful but 57 years on saying sorry for something that had nothing to do with you is just an empty gesture.

If the Government really want to make some sort of amends for the treatment of Turing then instead of the usual sound bites for the cameras they might think of putting substance before style just for once and handing some cash to Bletchley Park where Turing's genius helped win the Second World War - and develop the world's first programmable computer.

The Government could also release the secret official information about what went on in the code and cipher school 70 years ago where the secrets of the Enigma machine and Axis codes were unravelled.

The historic site runs on a shoestring kept alive by volunteers yet despite its historic importance it receives little or no official recognition or help even though without it there is a fair chance we would all be speaking German.

Securing its place for the nation and future generations would be a much more fitting tribute to Alan Turing than a somewhat pointless, although admittedly much cheaper, sorry.

If you want to know more about Bletchley Park by the way, which is in Milton Keynes and well worth a visit, click here.