With Britain tightening immigration regulations and the dreams of being an expat in Britain seeming to become far less of a reality for many, you are probably open to suggestions of how you can recreate the expat experience in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Recreating the British expat experience isn’t something I’d ever really thought about. But, if I ever did go back to my New Zealand birthplace then there would certainly be a few things I’d miss – and go to great lengths to recreate. Here’s my top four:
Newspapers – I’d really miss the all the great newspapers out here. So, I totally agree with Lisa on this one. It’s just not the same reading it online. Devouring the Sunday newspapers over breakfast is a ritual.
Beer – Nothing better than a pint of flat, room temperature bitter.
Cheese – In particular, Stilton, the king of cheeses. For me, Stilton just doesn’t taste right unless you’re eating it in Britain.
Humour – There’s something about the British sense of humour that runs through everything. Recreating that abroad (and getting your new your non-Brit comrades to get in on the jokes) might be the biggest challenge of them all.
What would you miss if you left Blighty? Have you ever felt the urge to recreate the British experience abroad?
Here’s a multiple choice question for you to ponder.
What should prospective citizens to do in order for them to become British?
Sign up as a volunteer for local charity
Pass a British history test
Be able to read and speak English
Know the words to “God Save the Queen”
None of the above, just pay taxes and obey the law
I’ve made some of choices these up, but some of them are actual proposals by the Home Office in their new points based citizenship consultation. If you’ve strong feelings about this (and I would hope you do!) then you can submit your opinions to the Home Office online.
Here’s something else to think about. Should these requirements apply to British born citizens as well? Personally, I think they should. This simple but effective test for evaluating whether proposed changes to citizenship requirements are reasonable or just political nonsense.
Australia has finally unveiled a revised citizenship test. Would-be citizens taking the old test were expected to know facts and trivia. This was ridiculed by the media, especially cricket related questions about Sir Don Bradman. The focus of the new test is on understanding the rights, responsibilities and privileges that come with becoming an Australian citizen.
The handbook that must be studied before taking the test has also been completely revised. Anything relating to sport, culture or history has been removed from the test. As the tag cloud below shows, the main topics in the test relate to government, laws, civic values and constitutional rights.
However the new test still includes some intimidating questions that I doubt most Australian born citizens would know.
Which official symbol of Australia identifies Commonwealth property?
Which arm of government has the power to interpret and apply laws?
What is the name of the legal document that sets out the rules for the government of Australia?
This raises the first thorny issue:
Should naturalised citizens be expected to pass a test if that test can not be passed by a native citizen?
There’s a great post over on the Labourhome blog by Julia Svetlichnaja about her observations having taken the British citizenship test.
There were no questions regarding history, current affairs, how the country is governed, culture or politics. All the questions were related to Government policies: such as the preconditions for taking paternity leave or who has a priority in free housing. There were also lots of questions about the subtleties of Council Tax. When are children allowed to work? What is their minimum wage? The majority of questions were very specific about such topics as solicitors, credit and debit cards and property leases. In short, all about how to navigate through endless policies and rules, clauses and exemptions, it was all very instrumental; questions did not seek any understanding of what society is about, only how to obey the rules. I was quickly aware that I was in the power of the people paid to create these rules and I would not escape easily.
The government is running a consultation to see if the test should “made more difficult” by adding history and government questions. I’m doubtful whether such additions will make the test more difficult – however it might make it more relevant to what Britain is about and what makes it one of the best countries and democracies in the world.
I gave a brief chat on BBC Oxford yesterday about my view of how the British celebrate their achievements. This was a few days after England beat Australia in the third test and won the Ashes. One of the points I wanted to make was how understated British achievements are in the citizenship test. There’s barely any mention of any what I think are remarkable achievements. Take for example Britain’s long history of inventors and scientists. From Netwon and his numerous theories to Tim Berners-Lee inventor of the World Wide Web. Culturally, Britain has made significant contributions to music, art, literature, fashion, film and theatre. There’s no mention of The Beatles, Elgar or Pink Flloyd in the test. One my personal favourite achievement is that British engineers (with the help of the French) built Concorde. An extraordinary achievement.
You can listen to my chat with Louisa below. If you’ve got a suggestion for a particular British achievement that we should be including in the citizenship test then please leave a comment.
Something that everyone in the UK should should understand is the differences in the UK’s geography. There are some very important distinctions that many foreigners frequently mix up.
When we use the term UK, we’re actually using an abbreviation. UK is short for United Kingdom, which in itself is short for, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.
When we talk about Great Britain we’re actually just talking about a geographic feature – and not a political country. Great Britain is the large island made up of England, Scotland and Wales – this excludes all the islands like the Isle of Wight and many other islands around the coastline.
However, the ambiguity creeps in when you refer to just use the word Britain. This could be a political or geographic reference. Politically it refers to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Or geographically it could refer to the island of Great Britain.
Some people will refer to the UK as Great Britain, but really that’s a bit sloppy. It’s like referring to North America when you really mean the USA. Even worse still some people refer to the Scottish as English.
However it’s always straightforward either. For example, someone born in Northern Ireland has the right to identify themselves as either Irish, British or both. This is a provision that was made in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. But then Northern Ireland politics has always been complicated.
There’s a tiny mention about these different regions in the British citizenship test and is something that should probably be expanded upon.
It’s been an incredible last few weeks. There’s been an enormous amount of interest in How British Are You? since the government announced the new points-for-passports policy. Traffic to this site has hockey sticked – although I fully expect this to calm down as search trends move on.
It’s also been fascinating to work out how people discovered this website. However I’m completely baffled as to why I appear in the results for this particular search.
For the record, I’m not in Maidstone nor do I sell weed – just books I’m afraid.
There’s been lots of discussion on blogs and Twitter this week about the citizenship test. Many British born citizens have reported how they’ve failed the test and questioned the test’s usefulness. After all, if this is a test about British life then surely anyone born in the UK should instinctively be able to pass with flying colours.
Some people have suggested that MPs probably wouldn’t be able to pass the test. Here is what happened when journalist Daniel Adam quizzed Mike Gapes (Labour MP for Ilford South) on his knowledge:
The conditions were not exactly the same as those stipulated by the Home Office. In my home-made test, Gapes was required to answer only 10 questions instead of 20. These were read out to him, and he could take as long as he wanted to give his answer. But it was all over in five minutes. At the end of it, with a great big smile on his face, Gapes said ‘I have failed, haven’t I?’ His instincts (if not his answers) were right.
With only half the questions answered correctly, Mike Gapes MP, the honourable member for Redbridge, had failed the test. If his score-rate remained as low as that in a real test, and if he were an incomer to Britain, he would have been denied citizenship on grounds, presumably, of insufficient engagement with British society. Not good for someone who is meant to represent it.
It would be interesting to get test results from other MPs. So if you plan to meet with your MP in the coming weeks, take a copy of our test and see report back their score.
Simon from Norfolk has written his own alternative version of the British citizenship test. It’s a mix of popular culture and humour – which is exactly what is missing from the official test. Here are some of my favourites:
1) Did you see the game last night? (Pick one)
a: Yes, what were Chelsea playing at?
b: Yes, what were Arsenal playing at?
c: Yes, I really fancied the labrador but it seems it was the spaniel’s night.
d: No I was busy working and contributing to the economy.
2) What do the following have in common: The Queen, turkey, Noel Edmunds, silly hats?
a: They’re all things that Prince Phillip has shot at.
b: They’re all traditional elements of a Proper British Christmas Day.
c: They’re all things that you require a licence to transport on a public highway.
d: They’re all sacred to the Church of England.
3) Barker is to Corbett as Wise is to?
a: Morecambe
b: Whitley Bay
c: Southend
d: Lowestoft
Guardian reader Sirorfeo provides some interesting revelations on the initial draft of Great British Values (as photographed through a transparent folder on Downing Street).
THE THIRTEEN BRITISH COMMANDMENTS [... would 'Common Values' sound better? G.B.]
- Thou shalt celebrate the day of our patron Saint George every year, come rain or shine, on April the…. [to consult with Culture Secretary]
- Thou shalt lament the rain in the winter, and dread the heat of the summer [... should this be humidity? -G.B.].
- Thou shalt strive for fairness and equality in all walks of public life, via a series of statutory instruments signed by our unelected and hereditary monarch
- Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and inform on him for dog-fouling.
- Thou shalt whinge incessantly about inadequate public services, whilst simultaneously refusing to pay any more tax.
- Thou shalt for thine own safety and security carry ID cards, the data on which will be duly misplaced by an errant contractor.
