Craig Revel Horwood’s British after 23 years
CONGRATULATIONS to Craig Revel Horwood who becomes a fully fledged British citizen this month but, listening to his description of the procedures involved, I did wonder why any serious person with a perfectly good passport from another Western country would want to bother.
Craig Revel Horwood is a man who has worked in this country for 23 years, paying large amounts of tax and contributing hugely to the UK’s export of entertainment. Yet he is expected to sit a test which involves knowing, for example, the percentage of Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Worse still the figures expected are not even the real ones because they are based on the 2001 census so applicants are given two sets of statistics and are told “these are the real ones and these are the ones you must give”. Being Craig, he thought it hilarious. Being British, I thought it shameful.
Being Craig, he thought it hilarious. Being British, I thought it shameful.
I asked him how many of these statistics, which the applicants had all learned by heart, he could get wrong before he was denied citizenship. He replied that he needed to score 80 per cent.
Am I the only one who thinks that the tests for citizenship should be length of residence, a solid work record, no serious lawbreaking and a reasonable command of English rather than an ability to recall a list of statistics?