I adore this map. It’s gorgeous, chic and proud. I’d love to have a full size copy for my office. You wouldn’t get any modern maps referring to Great Britain as ‘her’ – and I think they are less for it.

Via: Danielle who apparently lives in arable grain land.

The patron saints are one of the few cultural subjects covered in the British citizenship test, however this news highlights how irrelevant the test’s content is.

We’re working to create a new citizenship test that truly reflects real knowledge about life in the UK. Click here to contribute your own questions and vote for your favourites.

In one of the journal segments, David talks about some of the bizarre questions he came across while preparing for the British citizenship test. All of these questions have come from our study guide publications. Listen to the clip below.

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.

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?

I don’t think this is reasonable. There are no classes of citizenship and all citizens are equal. In my earlier posts this seems to the consensus from reader comments. Whether you are a citizen by birthright or naturalisation, this is a test that you shouldn’t have to study for. This doesn’t mean making the citizenship tests easier, but I think there is a more tacit knowledge of a country that could also be used. I’ve received a number of great suggestions from readers for the British citizenship test.

Isn’t it odd that the new Australian citizenship test doesn’t require you to know the words to the national anthem? Nothing unites a country more than singing. Surely this is a more emotional way of bonding with your country men than knowing opal is the national gemstone?

Understanding the language is a critical part to being able to integrate within Australian life, so it’s disappointing that the classic Australian slang is not tested.

However, all credit to the department for their inclusion of mateship. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the committee were talking about the proposed definition of this one.

Mateship
Helping and receiving help from others, especially in difficult times. A mate is often a friend, but can also be a total stranger.
“When my car broke down, the other drivers helped to push it in the spirit of mateship.”

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.

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.

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.

Diagram Credit: Wikipedia

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.