General Paper.

Climate change is the standout riser

Comparing pre-2020 papers to 2022-And Newer:

+4.2pp  Climate Change                (1.5% → 5.7% of all topic tags)
+3.4pp  Change and Adaptation         (1.9% → 5.3%)
+3.0pp  City Life                     (0.3% → 3.3%)
+2.9pp  Architecture and Design       (0% → 2.9%)
+2.5pp  humour                        (0.1% → 2.6%)

Climate's growth is real and not a Single School artefact — it shows up across paper-1 essay prompts at multiple JCs. If you're picking essay topics to prep, climate is the one with the strongest tailwind. In 2024 alone it was tagged on ~11% of GP questions, more than triple its 2020 share.

The decliners tell a story about the syllabus shifting away from "lifestyle" themes

-3.5pp  education
-2.9pp  Identity and Individuality
-2.5pp  Science and Technology       (note: distinct from Technology and Society)
-2.1pp  Favouritism and Fairness
-2.0pp  Cosmetics and Fashion

The pattern: examiners have moved away from soft "lifestyle" essays (fashion, Leisure and Busyness, identity) toward systemic topics (climate, cities, governance). Science and Technology shrinking while Technology and Society stays flat suggests the framing has shifted from "is technology good?" to "what does technology do to people?". Worth matching your prep angle accordingly.

Topic Co Occurrence reveals natural argument bundles

The top Co Tagged pairs are the topic clusters worth memorising as evidence buckets — examples that work for one almost always work for the other:

70  City Life + urbanisation
55  Cultural Identity + globalisation
42  Governance and Leadership + Politics and Public Rhetoric
41  Media and Public + Technology and Society
37  City Life + liveability
36  ageing + elderly
36  Climate Change + Environment and Sustainability
33  conformity + individualism

Practical use: when you build an essay example bank, file each example under the cluster, not the individual topic.