One year into the task of putting University London Central back on its feet, trouble-shooting Vice-Chancellor Professor Clifford Conquest is battling those who, -in dribs and drabs, defraud my students of the education they deserve-. His political star is in the ascendant and the ambition to be an important figure of the Centre Left in a reformed Labour party comes closer. But no! His aim is threatened by the forces of the Rising Left - not least on his governing body - bent on displacing the Centre Left. Both factions regard universities as their intellectual stronghold in danger of becoming a plaything of the Right.
When a magnetic couple from the world of cinema attend Graduation Day, Conquest-s ambitions for The New University are given renewed impetus. Complications are rife. A student comes to a sticky end, raising questions about the university-s ability to assess risk. A literary endowment causes strife. The value of arcane research fields is called into q
