Citizen Pain: Would you pass to be British?

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Life in the UK Test is the ultimate barrier to becoming a British citizen. But is it working – and how could we change it? Since its launch in 2001 the test has been criticised for failing to achieve its goal of integration, and making it harder for people to become citizens. Thom Brooks, author of Reforming the UK’s Citizenship Test: Building Bridges, Not Barriers, joins Yasmeen Serhan in the Bunker to ask: is it time for a new approach? “It’s not so much about building bridges, it’s about creating barriers on the arbitrary basis of a memory test.” “Other countries do not require a knowledge test like this to be a resident of a country.” “Americans and Australians - mostly native English speakers - have a pass rate of 97%. When it comes to Turkey, Iraq you see pass rates of less than 50%. There’s a big difference in different nationalities.” Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Yasmeen Serhan. Producer: Jet Gerbertson. Assistant producer: Kasia Tomasiewicz. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Bunker music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Jade Bailey. Artwork by James Parrett. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved
0:05.5	photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.
0:11.8	Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?
0:13.0	I loved going to college.
0:14.0	It's good you can retrain and do something.
0:16.0	Yeah, yeah.
0:17.0	Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.
0:22.0	Phoenix Group is the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business.
0:28.0	Search Phoenix Group living longer.
0:30.0	Pets brings so much joy.
0:32.0	From those happy greetings at the door to the warm cuddles on the sofa
0:36.7	so give a little love back with dental life from Purina a range of delicious chues made for dogs and tasty snacks for cats that help clean and support your pets, teeth and gums, essential for their overall well-being and a happy, healthy life. They give you plenty of smiles so
0:55.3	look after theirs with dental life. Pick first Curry House in the UK was called?
1:15.0	Or how many people are required to form a jury in Scotland?
1:19.0	If not, you probably wouldn't be able to pass the life in the UK test the exam that hundreds of
1:24.7	thousands of people take every year in order to achieve indefinite leave to remain or citizenship in this
1:30.4	country. But don't worry the vast majority of Britain's probably wouldn't be able to in this and in some instances factually inaccurate.
1:43.0	Since the requirement was first introduced in 2005,
1:46.0	some 2 million people have sat the exam.
1:49.0	But the government has failed to address the criticisms that the test fails to focus on the practical
1:53.8	knowledge required to live in this country and instead offers something akin to a
1:58.3	bad pub quiz. As someone who has taken this exam I can attest that the life in the UK test is truly a memorization exercise.
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