Alan Turing in the Times

Published in the Times on 26 July 2013:

Sir

Many arguments have been raised by your recent correspondents concerning Alan Turing, but the nub of the case can be stated simply.  Turing was not wrongly convicted because he was a genius; he was wrongly convicted because his actions should never have been a crime in the first place.  His conviction would have been equally unjust had he been a drunken layabout instead of a national hero.

There is no need for a retrospective pardon, because Parliament has already made clear that Turing and others should not have been convicted, by repealing the relevant offence, and by the passage of various equality laws in recent years.

The last Englishman: Colonel A D Wintle MC

I have been published in the New Law Journal (vol 163, 26 July 2013, p 22) this week, concerning the legendary Colonel Wintle. The article can be found here.

An ugly affair

I have been published in this week's New Law Journal here (££) on the libel case involving Stephen Berkoff and Julie Burchill.