Jamie Mortimer
@flimflammery.bsky.social
545 followers 509 following 424 posts
SF/F Lit, amdram, board games, Transformers, getting too angry at TV shows, general geekery. UK; cis; he/him; ADHD.
SF/F Lit, amdram, board games, Transformers, getting too angry at TV shows, general geekery. UK; cis; he/him; ADHD.
![John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.soc... • 31m
Jonathan Powell advised Ed Miliband not to ban imports from settlements before Israeli elections - Tim Shipman spectator.com/ article/reve...
The British ambassador in Tel Aviv, Simon Walters, who was of the same opinion, delivered a 'very explicit warning not to move so quickly. As a former director of national security for the Middle East in the Foreign Office, he had a deep understanding of the security implications. More remarkably, Jonathan Powell, the National Security Adviser, was of the same view. He was the most important figure in government on foreign policy during Keir Starmer's premiership, but now seems to have been ignored on the first major issue of Burnham's tenure.
What Powell and Walters sensed was that Benjamin Netanyahu, the combative Israeli Prime Minister, was in trouble in the polls and likely to lose his majority, and that any intervention before polling day would be weaponised by the Israeli right to drum up support for the government.
This has been confirmed by three different sources. 'Ed wants to get rid of Netanyahu and the Smotrich/Ben-Gvir lot [Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners], a senior security source says. 'He was explicitly told that would be less likely if he did this?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5hyjbx4hnlxe5il24ydnn4sr/bafkreib2ziydoc7bmt7sun2jla3wvpajdylazjcf2jkemcdthgrsrv7tzi)
![A screenshot of a Reddit post from the r/LegalAdviceUK subreddit by user Dijstraanon, titled "FtM transgender facing two different issues at work? England."
The post text reads:
"Brother in law is trans FtM and presents fully as a man. He's now facing an impossible situation at work with his employer telling him that due to recent legislation he must use the toilet of his birth gender. BUT several female colleagues have raised a grievance about him using their gendered toilet.
His employer has told him that he cannot use the toilet while he is at work until they sort it out and cannot give him a timeframe to do so. They do [cut off] have disabled separate toilets.
In the mean time one of his female colleagues has accused him of sexual harassment because he was used their gendered toilet. His menstrual cycle meant he needed to use the toilet.
He's been with the employer for just over 5 years but only in this location for 18 months. The location is mainly male with just a handful of females, and his workshop only has male toilets.
I do not know how to support him and as he's not in a union there is no one to turn too right now."
The post has an orange "Comments Moderated" tag, 169 upvotes, and 134 comments.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sefgphqp2xqwh2hawaixykwz/bafkreigy6jrfjxyegrf7h4wzz3yptwmzobhjrd3k5zjoxwd75r6ulxzsyq)
