James Ley
@jamesley.bsky.social
Deputy Books and Ideas Editor, The Conversation. Contributing Editor, Sydney Review of Books. Author of The Critic in the Modern World. Words in various other places.
Pinned
James Ley
@jamesley.bsky.social
· Sep 5
Bastards! | Sydney Review of Books
From economic rationalism to libertarianism, neoliberalism appears under many guises. Reviewing Quinn Slobodian’s new book on neoliberal thought, James Ley shows that what its founders share with latt...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
Reposted by James Ley
For what it's worth, people in Australia can get free membership of the National Library, and with that you can read the ABR free. It's how I came to enjoy this lovely little bit of savagery.
www.library.gov.au/research/gui...
www.library.gov.au/research/gui...
Join the Library | National Library of Australia (NLA)
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www.library.gov.au
December 3, 2025 at 2:39 AM
For what it's worth, people in Australia can get free membership of the National Library, and with that you can read the ABR free. It's how I came to enjoy this lovely little bit of savagery.
www.library.gov.au/research/gui...
www.library.gov.au/research/gui...
Reposted by James Ley
If you're a friend or fan of writer Robert Skinner, you may have heard about his terrible accident a couple months ago.
This Sat night at Coburg RSL is a benefit to help him back on his feet, out of debt, and to get his razzle-dazzle back.
Music, fun and party guaranteed. Details below.
Come along!
This Sat night at Coburg RSL is a benefit to help him back on his feet, out of debt, and to get his razzle-dazzle back.
Music, fun and party guaranteed. Details below.
Come along!
The Razzle Dazzle Restoration Project
Readings, Music and More for Robert Skinner
Help Robert get his razzle-dazzle back after his bike accident!
With readings from Andy...
www.trybooking.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:17 AM
If you're a friend or fan of writer Robert Skinner, you may have heard about his terrible accident a couple months ago.
This Sat night at Coburg RSL is a benefit to help him back on his feet, out of debt, and to get his razzle-dazzle back.
Music, fun and party guaranteed. Details below.
Come along!
This Sat night at Coburg RSL is a benefit to help him back on his feet, out of debt, and to get his razzle-dazzle back.
Music, fun and party guaranteed. Details below.
Come along!
Reposted by James Ley
Privileged to write about what mattered to Stoppard, for @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/its-wanting-...
theconversation.com/its-wanting-...
‘It’s wanting to know that makes us matter’: how Tom Stoppard made us all philosophers
One of the most critically acclaimed playwrights of our age, Tom Stoppard, has died at 88. He assumed his audience was as well read and inquisitive as he was.
theconversation.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Privileged to write about what mattered to Stoppard, for @aunz.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/its-wanting-...
theconversation.com/its-wanting-...
Reposted by James Ley
Great piece updating the critique of culture industries for the age of the platform mega-rentier www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
The Same Stream Twice | Rob Arcand
Two recent books, Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine and Andrew deWaard’s Derivative Media, explore the consequences of these technological intermediaries for the music, film, and television industries. While P...
www.nplusonemag.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Great piece updating the critique of culture industries for the age of the platform mega-rentier www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Reposted by James Ley
The abrupt and indefensible closure of Meanjin makes me ask, what can be done to shore up the future of literary journals in this country? How about funding the arts to the OECD average. That would mean an extra $5b per year.
With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this
With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this
Meanjin was closed – but new Australian literary journals are springing up around the country
Literary journals are breeding grounds of talent – including the new Splinter, rebooted Southerly, and First Nations journal Sovereign Texts, launching next year.
theconversation.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
The abrupt and indefensible closure of Meanjin makes me ask, what can be done to shore up the future of literary journals in this country? How about funding the arts to the OECD average. That would mean an extra $5b per year.
With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this
With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this
Reposted by James Ley
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
The Monastery and the Monaro | Sydney Review of Books
How do Australian writers find an overseas readership? Reviewing the highly acclaimed Stone Yard Devotional, Catriona Menzies-Pike surveys the critical oversights and abstractions that allow stories f...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:38 AM
I wrote a long piece for the SRB on Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, international literary success, and the heightened tension between universalising and provincial readings when Australian novels go global.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/the-...
Looking forward to Bezos finally benefitting humanity by being chained to a rock while an eagle feasts on his liver forever
Jeff Bezos is throwing his money and time into an A.I. start-up that he will help manage as its co-CEO: Project Prometheus, which is focusing on A.I. for the engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft.
Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive
Called Project Prometheus, the company is focusing on artificial intelligence for the engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft.
nyti.ms
November 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Looking forward to Bezos finally benefitting humanity by being chained to a rock while an eagle feasts on his liver forever
Recently acquired. (The Stein bio is excellent. Haven't got to the others yet.)
November 11, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Recently acquired. (The Stein bio is excellent. Haven't got to the others yet.)
Reposted by James Ley
I wrote a piece for @deepcutnews about how the media sees some genocides as more important than others
www.deepcutnews.com/p/the-age-ca...
www.deepcutnews.com/p/the-age-ca...
The Age called out the Myanmar genocide. Why not Gaza's?
The paper's treatment of the Palestinians reeks of double standards.
www.deepcutnews.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I wrote a piece for @deepcutnews about how the media sees some genocides as more important than others
www.deepcutnews.com/p/the-age-ca...
www.deepcutnews.com/p/the-age-ca...
Reposted by James Ley
I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
The Mushroom Tapes review – Erin Patterson through the eyes of Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein
This account of what the three authors observed during Patterson’s triple murder trial does resemble a podcast transcript at times, but it is extremely readable
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I signed off on my review of The Mushroom Tapes before the book got the gold plate publicity treatment over the weekend. When I write that it’s hard to differentiate this book from the torrents of chatter about the case, it’s not a positive evaluation.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
Reposted by James Ley
Reviewed Sam Tanenhaus's William F. Buckley bio. insidestory.org.au/the-entertai...
The entertaining insurgent • Dominic Kelly
Conservative activist William F. Buckley cajoled America along the road to the Reagan revolution
insidestory.org.au
November 10, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reviewed Sam Tanenhaus's William F. Buckley bio. insidestory.org.au/the-entertai...
Reposted by James Ley
@marquelawyers.com.au with a take you need to read on copyright and AI on @thepointau.bsky.social
Copyright is dead. When it comes to AI my property has been stolen all the same
The point.com.au
thepoint.com.au
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM
@marquelawyers.com.au with a take you need to read on copyright and AI on @thepointau.bsky.social
Reposted by James Ley
I suppose not taking a massive step backwards counts as a win. I wrote for Crikey about copyright, AI, Anthropic and the TDM exemption that the Albanese government has finally ruled out.
If the Productivity Commission had any credibility to provide advice on either copyright or cultural policy in the first place, it has squandered it.
Sure, tech giants can't train AI on copyright content for now, but the battle isn't over
www.crikey.com.au
October 30, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I suppose not taking a massive step backwards counts as a win. I wrote for Crikey about copyright, AI, Anthropic and the TDM exemption that the Albanese government has finally ruled out.
Excellent essay by Chris Fleming on Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
theconversation.com/why-do-we-th...
theconversation.com/why-do-we-th...
Why do we think hard work is virtuous? Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic gives a sharp answer
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is neither a history of economics, nor a religious history. It borrows from both, but is stranger than either.
theconversation.com
October 29, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Excellent essay by Chris Fleming on Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
theconversation.com/why-do-we-th...
theconversation.com/why-do-we-th...
Reposted by James Ley
The twelfth issue of Socrates on the Beach is live. Thank you to the authors and the translator and those who helped with the issue. socratesonthebeach.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:33 PM
The twelfth issue of Socrates on the Beach is live. Thank you to the authors and the translator and those who helped with the issue. socratesonthebeach.com
Reposted by James Ley
Congratulations to our member, David Brooks, for being awarded the 2025 Patrick White Literary Award – a richly deserved recognition of his profound contributions to Australian literature, contemporary poetry and environmental thought. Read more here:
David Brooks wins 2025 Patrick White Literary Award | Books+Publishing
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buff.ly
October 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Congratulations to our member, David Brooks, for being awarded the 2025 Patrick White Literary Award – a richly deserved recognition of his profound contributions to Australian literature, contemporary poetry and environmental thought. Read more here:
Reposted by James Ley
I’m going to re-up my own piece on BSU. Back in 2022 I wrote that Dalton was the novelist-laureate of Scott Morrison’s Australia. Why is it that readers can’t move on from this guy and his retrograde fantasies? sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
October 19, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I’m going to re-up my own piece on BSU. Back in 2022 I wrote that Dalton was the novelist-laureate of Scott Morrison’s Australia. Why is it that readers can’t move on from this guy and his retrograde fantasies? sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
Reposted by James Ley
"D’s sales have been so great...the aesthetic value of his work has been taken as self-evident. His consistent ideological commitments have been ignored. This, broadly, is symptomatic of a historical moment in which cultural value is conflated w market value" sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
Critic Swallows Book | Sydney Review of Books
To call into question the literary value of Dalton’s fiction is not to disqualify the pleasure and imaginative release that hundreds of thousands of readers have found in his novels, especially Boy Sw...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:51 AM
"D’s sales have been so great...the aesthetic value of his work has been taken as self-evident. His consistent ideological commitments have been ignored. This, broadly, is symptomatic of a historical moment in which cultural value is conflated w market value" sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...
Oh no! Very sorry to hear this. I never met Moya, but greatly respected her writing.
Rochford Street Review Issue 43. Vale Moya Costello.
Rochford Street Review was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of writer, editor, academic and wine critic Moya Costello.
rochfordstreetreview.com/2025/10/14/v...
Rochford Street Review was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of writer, editor, academic and wine critic Moya Costello.
rochfordstreetreview.com/2025/10/14/v...
Vale Moya Costello
Rochford Street Review was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of writer, editor, academic and wine critic Moya Costello.
rochfordstreetreview.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Oh no! Very sorry to hear this. I never met Moya, but greatly respected her writing.
Second-hand bookshop find
October 16, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Second-hand bookshop find