Take, take, take // Embracing Facts

Can anyone write a chapter on 'Belief' for me for a Cambridge Companion on Religion and Language?

I had the most excellent, short conversation about editing with @lyzzybee.bsky.social tonight. I love how language works and how people know how language works.

Take, take, take // Winners never quit In which I write about American Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the review @lyzzybee.bsky.social!

Train fares frozen: not happened for decades. Bringing rail back into public ownership means we can take action on fares.

Loving all the, uh, nuanced discussion of immigration and refugee and asylum seekers this morning. My take: 20 years is a ridiculous amount of time to take to settle and terrible for everyone in the system.

I hate when the algorithm picks up on you being interested in a thing you're trying to low key avoid.

I feel like I should be here more, what's going on here, what are we talking about.

Man on the DLR: Are you prepared for today’s meeting? Woman: No. Man: It’s at 9am. Woman: I know it’s at 9am, Dave. And I remain, unprepared.

That’ll be a no from me dawg. Call your local asshole and explain that this ain’t it

Take, take, take // The Sound after the Sound

V good: 'My Socialism is a Christian Socialism, an actual redemption of a Christian Evangelicalism I have rejected, where I had read, 'Blessed are the poor', and immediately amended it with 'in spirit' to deflect it, to not have to deal with the open wound in our society that Socialism addresses.'

I'm which I reflect on losing a city council byelection open.substack.com/pub/stephenp...

Great to be out over the weekend with my good friend @jessphillipsmp.bsky.social campaigning in the Moseley by-election for @stephenpihlaja.bsky.social. Friends in politics are very important. Jess is loyal, feisty, kind, and you know exactly what she’s about. Politics needs more like Jess.

Please follow my Candidate FB page for updates about my candidacy at Labour Councillor for Moseley Ward.

Moseley Farmers Market! Ftw!

The art of the FB argument is giving a person the last work right as it makes them look like an asshole.

🧵Big news thread incoming🧵 Tonight, I participated in my first doorknocking session as a Labour candidate in the Moseley Ward for the city council by-election on 23 October. This summer, the Labour councillor in this Ward, Kerry Jenkins, passed away after a sudden illness.

I challenged my colleagues yesterday to come up with a seven-word definition of Stylistics. This is as close as I could get: Stylistics is the study of how language choice affects meaning.

Take, Take, Take // It was not a dream open.substack.com/pub/stephenp... In which I go and come back

Now we have state sanctioned grieving?

If a Union or a political party is having an internal election, they should not tell you how to vote in that election. Honestly.

I love a BBC interview with an American gun expert where the gun expert is going on and on and on about things like muzzle velocity like there moment has finally come, someone will finally listen to them and the BBC interviewers is like, You realise this whole thing is completely crazy, right?

A new standing desk is great and I have solved the wobble. Yes.

Aaaaaand the internet is terrible there.

I have a place to work in my home for the first time in about 11 eleven years and it's incredible.

New article up on Social Compass: Positioning in discourse about religious belief and practice in superdiverse contexts. It's Open Access so download and read for free!

I can't tell if this is profound or not.

I feel like leadership is wrapping your mind around the task that needs doing and then communicating to your team how that task will get done.

After a brilliant week in Glasgow @baal2025.bsky.social, we’re already looking forward to next year’s conference at Aston University! #BAAL2025 ➡️ #BAAL2026 @stephenpihlaja.bsky.social

For all the people on Bluesky, you get this about fifteen minutes early: www.baal2026.com #baal2026 #baal2025

Final plenary from Angel Lin on the ecological turn in Applied Linguistics. #baal2025

Fuck.

Next #baal2025 talk is Spencer Hazel, talking about Adventures in a Diegetic World.

I think you could do an analysis of types of facial expressions used to perform apologetic regret when entering a conference presentation late.

Start of #baal2025! Looking forward to the Intercultural Communication SIG.

Okay now @lucyjones.bsky.social talking about marginalised identities and intersectionality! #baal2025

Really great pairing of talks in this session at #baal2025.

Now Glenn Stockwell and Yijen Wang talking about GenAi in second language writing learning. #baal2025

Didn't live skeet this talk but it was a good one! #baal2025

Yes Ying Ho is talking about how different disciplines approach GenAI in their approach to teaching and learning languages. #baal2025

Now @emma-putland.bsky.social talking about dementia and genAI. #baal2025

I'm going to make notes on Kamran Khan's plenary so follow away. #baal2025

Okay should I live skeet this? #baal2025

Take, take, take// And then this happens open.substack.com/pub/stephenp...

If you never change your academic profile pic, you never grow old.

Starting to feel like I might tell my students that my assessments are all 'Tell AI to explain anything you like in the form of an essay and turn that in' to make them uncomfortable and get a conversation going about AI.

Hello