UK historian apologises for 'stupid' remarks

British historian Niall Ferguson has apologised for remarks suggesting that economist John Maynard Keynes didn't care about future generations because he was gay and childless.

The academic and author, a professor at Harvard University, described as "stupid" the comments at a conference in California last Thursday, made in an "off-the-cuff" answer following a presentation.

He said he was asked about Keynes' famous observation that, "In the long run we are all dead". A blogger present posted a transcript on the remarks, while other attendees also voiced surprise.

"Keynes was a homosexual and had no intention of having children. We are NOT dead in the long run, our children are our progeny,'' Ferguson was quoted as saying by blogger Lance Reports on his StreetTalk Live website.

"It is the economic ideals of Keynes that have gotten us into the problems of today. Short term fixes, with a neglect of the long run, leads to the continuous cycles of booms and busts,'' he added.

Ferguson apologised on his own blog Saturday, saying: "I should not have suggested ... that Keynes was indifferent to the long run because he had no children, nor that he had no children because he was gay.

"This was doubly stupid. First, it is obvious that people who do not have children also care about future generations. Second, I had forgotten that Keynes's wife Lydia miscarried."

Keynes, whose theories influenced government policy and macroeconomic theory, married Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova despite being openly gay. He died in 1946.

Ferguson's apology continued: "My disagreements with Keynes's economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation.

"It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life. As those who know me and my work are well aware, I detest all prejudice, sexual or otherwise.

"My colleagues, students, and friends - straight and gay - have every right to be disappointed in me, as I am in myself. To them, and to everyone who heard my remarks ...or has read them since, I deeply and unreservedly apologise."

As well as being a history professor at Harvard, Ferguson also holds post as the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and is a senior research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford.

- AAP