iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Vicky Blake UCU (she/her) @vickyblake.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

The Certification Officer has issued his decision in Blake & McGaughey v UCU. My initial response is here: vickyblakeucu.uk/2026/03/31/t... I urge members to read the full ruling rather than relying on the summary emailed to all members by HQ today. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69cbcb...

vickyblakeucu.uk

The Certification Officer’s ruling: Blake & McGaughey v UCU

The Certification Officer has now issued his decision in Blake and McGaughey v UCU. One complaint was upheld in part as a technical breach. The rest were dismissed, and no rerun or further remedy w…

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Wil Hardman @wilhardman.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Workers don’t vote for 5 consecutive bouts of industrial action with a 75% turnout unless something is seriously wrong. Solidarity with all in Unite UCU ✊🔥

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Roger Kline @rogerkline.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Two thirds of UCU staff walk out. I worked for UCU two decades ago. In fact I ran for General Secretary and just lost. There is no way two thirds of the staff would walk out if the story of victimisation isnt true. My sources say its been coming for years. feweek.co.uk/ucu-staff-to...

feweek.co.uk

UCU staff walk out over alleged ‘trade union victimisation’

Leaders of the union call the claims ‘categorically untrue’

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Unite UCU @uniteucu.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

📣 Hands off Marie! Tell @drjogrady.bsky.social and @ucu.org.uk to stop victimising Unite UCU's safety rep. ✍️ jgrady@ucu.org.uk #HandsOffMarie #UniteTheUnion @unitetheunion.bsky.social

Photo of Marie, Unite UCU's health and safety rep, who is being victimised by her trade union employer

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Wil Hardman @wilhardman.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Solidarity with all @uniteucu.bsky.social workers standing up against trade union victimisation. This is appalling and has crossed a very serious line. @ucu.org.uk must put a stop to this immediately. It brings the whole TU movement into disrepute and makes our jobs as reps a whole lot harder.

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Theresa Heyd @theresaheyd.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

New publication on @ipragmatics.bsky.social, out now and available open access: My work on the digital language ideologies of generative AI, in particular the "AI is here to stay" construction and its connections to presentism, techno-optimism, and tech bro culture

benjamins.com

Presentism as a digital language ideology in generative AI discourse

This paper gives a critical discourse-analytical account of presentism as a digital language ideology. It outlines how this ahistorical understanding of sociotechnical change centering the here-and-no...

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EngLangBlog @englangblog.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

One for the linguists.

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Ian Cushing @iancushing.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

the DfE have responded enthusiastically to the curriculum and assessment review, stating that oracy is an 'important vehicle for social justice'. so more reproduction of this flawed theory of change which isolates 'better oracy' as a solution to injustice. doi.org/10.1080/0305...

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21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

After squandering millions on Castle Meadows purchase, University of Nottingham is now axing modern languages & music It also plans to cut its nursing programme Leaders of the bungleocracy continue to draw handsome salaries www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham

In a statement the institution also says it is

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Tony Thorne @tonythorne007.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

I’m quoted in Laura Brown’s excellent article on youth language. I can’t post a link but here’s a screenshot…

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EngLangBlog @englangblog.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Hmm... beyond the headline, this is a bit more complex than kids sounding more American. archive.ph/2025.11.02-2...

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Language not only describes the world. It transforms us alongside the world We demand and we demand

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Ian Cushing @iancushing.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

the spelling bee is... 'a public ritual of linguistic discipline. It doesn't just reward memorisation; it performs a particular vision of language as precise, codified, and rule-bound, and positions that vision as natural, inevitable, and good' compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

On language structures under genocidal violence There are no new words but new combinations

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Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Just in case anyone is listening, please note that UK universities cannot operate successfully on the basis of continuous reduction of academic staff and academic staff pay. No amount of staff wellness sessions will change this.

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Lexis Podcast @lexispodcast.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

We've been away for a while but episode 75 is finally here. We talk about accent discrimination, attitudes to teachers' accents and about what accent prejudice tells us about wider social attitudes. #Linguistics open.spotify.com/episode/5wnC...

open.spotify.com

Spotify – Web Player

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Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

In my latest blog post I delve into the implication of Trump's Compact on the field of educational linguistics--and it is not pretty. Why Trump’s Compact Poses an Existential Threat to Educational Linguistics educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/w...

educationallinguist.wordpress.com

Why Trump’s Compact Poses an Existential Threat to Educational Linguistics

Donald Trump’s so-called Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education is his latest attempt to impose a partisan political vision on the nation’s universities. Framed as a push for rigor and…

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LIP Research Group @liprg.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Join us for our next LIP talk We are delighted to welcome Teun A. van Dijk (Centre of Discourse Studies, Barcelona) for the third talk of the term. Title: Discourse and Ideologies of the Radical Right Date & Time: Tuesday 28th October, 1-2pm (UK time) Location: MS Teams Online link: lnkd.in/eyvGGc7G

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EngLangBlog @englangblog.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Another example of cultural and linguistic imperialism? BBC News - Welsh-speaking inmates 'told to speak English' in prison www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

HMP Berwyn: Welsh-speaking prisoners 'told to speak English' in prison

Ex-inmates say Welsh speakers were made to use English at Wales' biggest prison.

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EngLangBlog @englangblog.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

A sensible point in Guardian letters about the long tradition of using daft catchphrases like 6-7...

My 13-year-old granddaughter, Sophia, confirms that randomly yelling “Six-sevvuhnn!” is trending at her school. This sort of thing is nothing new: when her mother was at school, the fashionable standard greeting between teenage boys was “Whassup?”.
Mark Newbury
Farndale, Yorkshire

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Language on the Move @languageonthemove.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Interested in literacy in multilingual contexts? Consider joining this new international research network under the auspices of the World Education Research Association www.languageonthemove.com/literacy-in-...

languageonthemove.com

Literacy in Multilingual Contexts

The World Education Research Association (WERA) recently announced the launch of seven new International Research Networks (IRNs) and we are pleased to share that “Literacy in Multilingual Co…

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William Crosby @crosbywilliam.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

🧵 The last month or so in UCU world has left me feeling very concerned. I’m not a member or fan of any faction, but the recent NEC elections have given the hard-right of the union a majority on our highest council. Meanwhile, our senior leadership appear to be half heartedly launching our (cont…)

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clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social @clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

The best piece I have read on the topic of AI use and writing pedagogy. Just brilliant!

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clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social @clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Really interesting discussion of the Teacher Tapp findings - How teachers feel about their accent.

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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 14/10/2025

Today in the US is #IndigenousPeoplesDay. Held in opposition to the federal govt holiday Columbus Day and celebrates Native American culture and resistance to colonialism as opposed to the genocide, murder, slavery and torture brought by Columbus shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...

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Warda Farah @wardasworld.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

This looks really brilliant 👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿

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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 13/10/2025

#OtD 13 Oct 1909 radical educator, Francesc Ferrer, was executed in Barcelona. Sentenced to death by a military tribunal despite no solid evidence being brought against him, his murder caused protests across the world. This is a collection of his work: shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/ana...

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

in a syntactic death announced in a lexicon of what was #GazaGenocide

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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

#OpenAccess from August 2025 - Media Platforming and the Normalisation of Extreme Right Views - cup.org/4mmVIAL "exposure to uncritical interviews increases agreement with extreme statements and perceptions of broader support in the population" - @dianebolet.bsky.social & @florianfoos.bsky.social

BJPolS abstract discussing the effects of extensive media exposure on public perceptions and normalization. It references specific research surveys conducted on Sky News UK and Australia, analyzing changes in public attitudes and policy effects due to media strategies.

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Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 13/10/2025

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand. "I'm correcting your grammar"

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Rob Drummond @robdrummond.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

So interesting! I’ve always wanted to look into the visual aspect of accents. ‘Different accents look different' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

'Why I speak with a Yorkshire accent despite being born deaf'

Gladiators star Jodie Ounsley says it is one of the questions she gets asked the most.

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Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

I'm happy to say that the article that Karin Tusting and I wrote for Text and Talk is now available. In it, we look at how a number literacy practices were deployed in a university language centre to try to shape workers into reflective practitioners. www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

degruyterbrill.com

‘SMART goals’ and ‘HR language’: technologised literacy practices and counter-conduct in the workplace

This study examines the use of literacy practices in a performance management system which aims to produce reflective practitioners, and how these practices were discursively resisted by staff. It emp...

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Le Dog @ledog.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Thank you @ducuuo.bsky.social comrades for returning this result. We will not give up. We care about our university, our students and our city. It has been a very long time since anyone at the top did. That’s got to change.

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Have you found Palestine? Lean in #GazaGenocide #KeepTellingofGaza

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Unite UCU @uniteucu.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Fifty branches, representing over 36% of UCU members, have now called for @drjogrady.bsky.social to enter unconditional negotiations & remove the threat of punitive deductions against staff. Unite's repeated requests for such talks have had no response. Will she now listen to @ucu.org.uk members?

We call on Jo Grady and UCU SMT to:
• Enter negotiations with Unite UCU without preconditions.
• Stop the threat of punitive deductions for ASOS - this breaches UCU and TUC policy and only serves to undermine all of us, not least those UCU members currently involved in legal test cases against punitive deductions after taking lawful industrial action.

Signed, 25, no 37, no 46, no 50 UCU branch committees (and still counting)

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Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 01/10/2025

💥Breaking: Italy’s two largest unions call national general strike after Israel’s flotilla attack The Italian unions CGIL and USB announced a nationwide general strike for Friday, October 3, covering all public and private sectors. The move follows Israel’s attack on the Gaza flotilla carrying...

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BDS movement @bdsmovement.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Israel attacks the Global Sumud Flotilla, continues to starve Palestinians in Gaza. Escalate peaceful disruptive action now. #DisruptComplicity now!

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Kirby Conrod @kirbyconrod.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I'm so happy to see the Canadian Linguistics Society issuing this statement - I want to see more linguists leveraging our expertise and scientific grounding to push back against linguistic oppression, and I think statements like this are a fantastic step! #linguistics 🧪

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Sofia Lampropoulou @sofialampro.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

No criminal record, then volunteer, then learn the language and, ideally, bring an Oscar or an Olympic medal. Then we'll accept you - maybe you'll get citizenship...

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BDS movement @bdsmovement.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

If you are a student or faculty member, join or start a campaign to pressure your university to cut ties with Microsoft. If you are involved in a civil society organization support the BDS movement’s policy related work on regulating AI and cloud tech as dual use by contacting Info@bdsmovement.net.

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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 25/09/2025

#OtD 25 Sep 1952 influential Black author, activist, and feminist theorist, bell hooks was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She wrote over 30 books during her life, often critiquing what she termed the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1259...

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Ian Cushing @iancushing.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

i hope this article gives hope to any teachers who are confronted with ideologies of the 'word gap' in their schools. despite the stubbornness of this deficit concept, there are always spaces for resistance 💕 ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Mustering a lexicon for the world from the heartbreak of Gaza #GazaGenocide‌

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BDS movement @bdsmovement.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Italy was on strike in solidarity with Palestinians last Monday. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated blocking roads, ports & railway stations. In Rome, many drivers found themselves stuck in traffic — & were happy about it, saluting demonstrators & condemning Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Let the words be your planner as work for justice happens #GazaGenocide #KeepTellingofGaza

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