One has to weigh advantages. The growth of databases and electronic archives is something to be encouraged. On the other hand, it would be unnatural not to feel alarmed at the commercial stranglehold which their creation permits. There are more subtle anxieties, too. Freelance authors, as the romantic name for them implies, are less constrained than employees.
Subservience is as corrosive in journalism as it is in academic research.
Freedoms of thought and expression are at risk. John Sutherland , who teaches English at University College London and at Caltech, is writing a Life of Stephen Spender.