Addressing male co-workers as 'gents' is 'old fashioned' and inappropriate in the workplace, according to judge Dawn Shotter, who presided over an employment tribunal in Liverpool.

It didn't quite reach the threshold of 'unlawful sex discrimination', the learned judge ruled, but it was an example of what was 'unacceptable today', and represented 'managerial incompetence'. That's us told then.

The problem is, it is becoming increasingly difficult to work out what is 'old fashioned and inappropriate', and what is 'acceptable today'. The glib answer is that if you sound like a human being, you are probably sailing close to the wind. And if you sound like an AI bot that churns out American corporate jargon, you are, erm, good to go.

But what we really need, I think, is more guidance. We need more judges to tell us what we can........

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