Citizenship Now

My wife is Australian and came to England 30 years ago. We were married in 1988 and have lived and raised our family in Warwickshire. When she returns from a visit abroad, she has to show the immigration officers an old passport, which bears a stamp allowing her to re-enter the United Kingdom.

In the early years of our marriage, Australia did not allow its citizens to hold dual nationality, so rather than renounce her birthright, she put up with the inconveniences of travelling in Europe on an Australian passport, for instance having to obtain a visa from the French Embassy in London whenever we crossed to Calais. Australia relaxed the rules in 2002, but by the time she thought about becoming officially British, the cost of applying for UK nationality was over £500; it seemed easier just to carry two Australian passports on overseas trips.

Recent stories of deportation threats to people who came over in the 1950s as children from the West Indies on the Empire Windrush, and the uncertainties surrounding the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, have caused us to rethink, despite the current fee of nearly £1400 to apply. (This disproportionate fee is presumably part of Theresa May's "Hostile environment" to discourage immigration.)  

One of the hurdles is to score at least 70% in the Life in the UK test. If costs £50 to enter and is taken at your nearest Test Centre, fortunately only 12 miles away in our case. There are 24 multiple-choice questions on the "British Way of Life" and you can buy a 180-page book containing all the relevant information you will be tested on.
  

I have had a number of goes at sample tests, and despite having been a UK national for 81 years, have failed several and struggled to reach a mark above 80%. Many of the questions seem to have little bearing on what it is to be a British citizen in 21st century. Here are some examples of questions from the online practice tests: 

• How old was Mary Stuart when she became Queen of Scotland?
• In which city is the longest artificial ski slope in Europe?
• Who directed the movie ‘The Killing Fields’ in 1984?
• To the nearest 10,000, how many years ago did the British Isles separate from the Continental land mass?
• Which two of Henry VIII’s wives were beheaded for adultery?
• On which day of which month in 1957 was the Treaty of Rome signed?

It reminds me of the written driving test, which involves learning a lot of information you will rarely, if ever, need in your driving career. Just another money-spinner for the government?

This week’s crossword “Clue of the Week” might be a better guide to being in tune with British life:

Wise selector of bonds (5 letters).

To answer it, you need to have heard of Premium Bonds and the comedians Morecambe and Wise.

Solutions to cryptarithms in previous post:  

HELP x ME = SIGMA is solved by 1782 × 37 = 65934  

TASTY = 12614