Numbers up

The Age of Open Government No 3: One day Scottish office minister Brian Wilson openly declared a fall in English applications to Scottish universities, from 34,5 in 1997 to 33,081 this year. A day later Tony Blair said it was "up, not down. It is actually 33,000."

The Department for Education's explanation? They say the prime minister was, of course, talking about proportions of applicants not numbers.