I’m back from sunny Somerset where life is calmer, slower and more Conservative!
I learnt, while away, about the British citizenship test which, I am sure, the vast majority of Britons would fail miserably. The test is awful and requires a knowledge of things that, frankly, have no basis in ensuring social cohesion, a better standard of life in Britain or anything else productive.
Worse, some of it definitely suffers from ‘having an agenda’.
When searching, just now, for some links about the test I found the Daily Mail’s alternative test which I passed with 9/10; and this sample test: free sample test.
The sample test should give you an idea of how pointless it all is. Do I care, for example, how many UK MPs there are, what proportion of the population is under 19 or what the Scottish Church is called? Will I understand the importance of queuing or freedom of speech by knowing how many members of the Welsh National Assembly there are or whether the Queen is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England?
Mostly I do not care about this stuff and I would be cautious about condoning any test, let alone one which talks about some of Britain’s constituent nations’ national identities while poo-pooing England’s!
Finally, and before I rest (as one has to after returning from holiday), I would like to reassure Gaz that an English Parliament could mean a reduction in Whitehall personnel… The test I mentioned before requires that you know that there are six hundred and… well, more than six hundred UK MPs. And we all know that’s too many.
September 9th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Sorry Gav - I scored 10 /10, although I did think the one about the queue was somewhat disingenuous.
I don’t know of many Brits who would join the back of a long queue without first knowing what it was for. It might be a queue to shake hands with Blair.
Actually no, it did say a LONG queue!
September 9th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Welcome back Gav. The citizenship test is crap isn’t it? A colleague of mine is looking at getting a British passport (he’s a yank married to one of our women) and he thought I was joking about the test. When I told him about the option ceremony where you can go and swear alliegence to Britain and the EU he said some naughty words and spat on the floor. I’ve been educating him. ;o)
September 9th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Actually there’s probably an argument for saying that if you pass it you’re not English!
There’s a lot about devolved government, there’s a lot about politics and there’s a section asking about the proportion of ethnic minorities in the population.
Now, as I see it, English people are distinctly not interested in politics — they just want to see justice done; they’re not Scottish or Welsh so are not affected by devolution’s nuts and bolts — just it’s unfairness; and finally they’re colour blind and inherently unracist and so their response to “What proportion of the UK is ethnic minority?” is “Who cares.”
It’s multiple choice and “Who cares” is definitely not an option!