THE FRANKS REPORT on Oxford was published, proposing drastic changes,
and being swiftly dismissed as one more lost cause by those whom it offended. There was talk of a plan to fingerprint the entire population of Britain. Local elections took place, showing early gains for the Tories, and their party chairman announced new, tougher selection measures for parliamentary candidates. The BMA coun- cil decided to recommend acceptance of the doctors' pay award, and the council of the Building Societies Association recommended a rise in mortgage interest rates from 61 to 71 per cent, which the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer thought unjustified. The Postmaster- General gave up part of his weekend for a conference on the pressing national problem of whether or not the forthcoming Clay- Cooper fight should be televised. The Astors announced•that they were giving up Cliveden, and the Canadian Mounties announced that they were giving up their horses : while Debrett announced, in honour of the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, that the Queen was descended from both William the Conqueror and King Harold—thanks to Harold's wandering daughter Gytha, and her meeting with the Grand Prince of Kiev.
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