What went up

Erasmus in England

The government is to rejoin the Erasmus scheme, which allows students at British universities to spend time studying in other European countries, with reciprocal opportunities for EU students. How did Desiderius Erasmus’s own studies in England go?

— In 1499 he spent two months at St Mary’s College, Oxford, where he attended John Colet’s Bible classes and also learned skills in horsemanship. His trip ended in financial disaster, however, when customs officials confiscated his gold and silver while he was leaving England.

— From 1511 to 1515 Erasmus was a Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, where he studied and taught Greek. But he was far from happy with his accommodation at Queens’ College, which he complained was cold and draughty. He also moaned that the college was unable to provide him with good wine to help his gallstones.

Six things which increased in 2025:

— UK population: mid-year estimate increased from 69,281,400 in 2024 to 69,487,000 in 2025.

— Inflation: annual rate increased from 2.6% in November 2024 to 3.2% in November 2025.

— Productivity: output per hour increased by 1.1%. However, output per worker was static.

— GDP: increased by 1.1% in the year to October.

— Government debt: net borrowing increased from 5.7% to 5.9% of GDP. Accumulated debt rose from 98.1% of GDP to 100% of GDP.

— Prison population: increased from 86,038 in November 2024 to 87,332 in November 2025.

What went down

Six things which decreased in 2025:

— Net migration: fell from 649,000 in year to June 2024 to 204,000 in the year to June 2025 (if we can trust the figures).

— Bank of England base rate: fell from 4.75% to 3.75%.

— Government approval rating: fell from –47% to –57%. According to YouGov the proportion of people saying that they would vote Labour in a general election fell from 26% to 18%.

– Conservative share of the vote: fell from 22% to 17%.

– NHS waiting lists: the number of people waiting for consultant-led elective care fell from 7.54m in October 2024 to 7.4m in October 2025.

– The amount of land in the UK cultivated for arable crops: fell 1.1% to 4.1m hectares.