https://pjgill.net/tags/being-a-decent-human-being/ Recent content in being a decent human being on PGill Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb Phoebe Gill Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2026/08/17/correcting-credit-record/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2026/08/17/correcting-credit-record/ If you have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), you can ask the credit reference agencies to sever the connection between your current and former identity in your credit report. This means that people who look up your current credit report will no longer see your dead-name. And people who look up the credit report associated with your dead name will no longer see your current name and details. I recently did this, and am documenting my process here because some of it is hidden or non-obvious. https://pjgill.net/2026/03/30/cass-really-tiny-number/ Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2026/03/30/cass-really-tiny-number/ In an interview last month with the BBC, Hillary Cass said: “There are a tiny number of people who will never be comfortable with their biological sex, with the gender associated with their biological sex.” … When asked how many children with distress about their gender would experience that same distress into adulthood, Cass said it was impossible to assess precisely, but it would be a “really tiny number”. https://pjgill.net/2023/01/17/the-cruelty-is-the-point/ Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2023/01/17/the-cruelty-is-the-point/ The UK government has now published the reasons for blocking the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. It’s quite lengthy, so let me summarise they reasons they gave. “Part 2: Adverse effects of different GRC regimes across the UK”: Scottish Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) issued under the new regime would not be recognised by the rest of the UK, which would create legal, administrative, and practical problems. “Part 3: Adverse impacts resulting from increased risk of fraudulent applications”: there is nothing specific to the rest of the UK here - it’s the same argument as made by Scottish opponents of the bill. https://pjgill.net/projects/retention-analysis/ Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/projects/retention-analysis/ Introduction My employer has now published their UK gender pay gap figures. This has prompted me to pick up earlier thinking about retention. Measuring diversity in recruitment is easy. HR will be monitoring this. From my experience, this figure (particularly for gender) is not considered top secret and will often be shared internally - some companies even make this number public. Retention is both more difficult and more interesting. More difficult because companies are (somewhat understandably) more shy about their retention figures. https://pjgill.net/2017/10/18/sports-toilets-trans-rights/ Wed, 18 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2017/10/18/sports-toilets-trans-rights/ The recent Green Party conference was the first one I’d been to. I really enjoyed the four days - met a lot of interesting people, learnt many new things, and voted on a lot of good motions seeking to improve our policy and processes.1 There were a small number of things I was less happy with, however, of which this is one. Green Party policy is created and decided upon by the membership. https://pjgill.net/2017/08/08/turandot/ Tue, 08 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2017/08/08/turandot/ Recently, I saw a performance of Turandot - Puccini’s final opera - at the Royal Opera House. It was very enjoyable, but left me with some interesting thoughts. Let me start by saying that I think it was a good production, albeit marred by missed opportunities. Most obviously, the gong. I’m sure there was a good reason why Calef only pretended to strike it. However, as a piece of theatre, those few seconds were jarringly unconvincing. https://pjgill.net/2017/06/26/woolstonecraft/ Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2017/06/26/woolstonecraft/ Last month, I finally got round to reading A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Woolstonecraft. I wish I’d read it five years ago. Woolstonecraft’s core argument is that women are just as human as men, and therefore deserve the same degree of education. It is not an easy (or pleasant) read, being somewhat verbose by modern standards. It was most disconcerting that Woolstonecraft was having to make these arguments in the first place, however. https://pjgill.net/2017/04/07/alterconf/ Fri, 07 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://pjgill.net/2017/04/07/alterconf/ I recently attended AlterConf London, a rather interesting conference examining diversity and inclusion in the software industry. Write-ups of the talks are below. Two major themes emerged: why the industry should care about diversity and inclusion, and how we can help. Questions/comments/operatic allegories welcome.1 It’s possible that I may be misrepresenting or in error - the sketch notes should be more authoritative. Open Open Source In Open Source Software (OSS) projects, code is of secondary importance.