ONE of our proudest achievements as a county is that Alan Turing, the genius behind the enigma solving computer during the second world war was educated here in West Dorset.

On Saturday, a bust of Alan Turing was unveiled at Sherborne School to mark what would have been his 109th birthday. Alan Turing was one of those people who pushed the boundaries - he was unconventional, he challenged theories and wrote his own. But it is less well known that he was gay when being gay was a criminal offence. To avoid prison, he accepted the punishment of chemical castration with hormone therapy. But the trauma led him to take his own life shortly afterwards. In my mind, this is a matter of national embarrassment that we could treat one of our war heroes in this way, simply because he was gay.

It also has some relevance because June is ‘Pride Month’, the time during the year when, in my mind, we celebrate all the things we have in common that unify us whilst recognising the things that differentiate us and make us individual. Because regardless to whom we are attracted or whom we love, we are part of one equal nation where everyone’s life matters, not just a sub-section as the sinister ideology of identity politics would purvey.

My partner and I were very proud to be part of the event to mark Alan Turing’s life at Sherborne School on Saturday. It was a powerful statement as to how the country has evolved. A statement of how we have recognised our failings, that we have fixed or are fixing the wrongs that need to be reconciled. That we continue to learn from our history, but more importantly, that we know what inclusion really means for the future – so that the unnecessary battles of the past can stop.

CHRIS LODER

WEST DORSET MP