Migration minister Mike Tapp failed a UK citizenship test question before insisting he is a "proud Brit." Speaking at a parliamentary committee on settlement, citizenship, and integration on Tuesday, 10 March, the Labour MP for Dover and Deal admitted he did not know the height of the London Eye - one of the questions in the official UK citizenship test. "I am confident that I would be able to pass the test, I'm a proud Brit," he added, but promised to "take a keen interest" in knowing the answer "when it comes up again" in the same meeting next year. Chair of the committee, Lord Don Foster, said he will "follow up" on Mr Tapp's word.

Migration minister Mike Tapp failed a UK citizenship test question before insisting he is a “proud Brit.” Speaking at a parliamentary committee on settlement, citizenship, and integration on Tuesday, 10 March, the Labour MP for Dover and Deal admitted he did not know the height of the London Eye - one of the questions in the official UK citizenship test. “I am confident that I would be able to pass the test, I’m a proud Brit,” he added, but promised to “take a keen interest” in knowing the answer “when it comes up again” in the same meeting next year. Chair of the committee, Lord Don Foster, said he will “follow up” on Mr Tapp’s word.

  • Kairos@lemmy.todayEnglish
    74·
    6 months ago

    Oh yeah the only qualification for being a Britt is memorizing arbitrary information. That makes sense.

  • blackn1ght@feddit.ukEnglish
    41·
    6 months ago

    My friend was revising for his UK citizenship test back in 2012. I had a couple of goes on a mock test and I failed it both times. The questions were absurd and I’d bet most people wouldn’t know about and were of no relevance to British culture.

  • ambitiousslab@feddit.ukEnglish
    32·
    6 months ago

    My partner, dad’s partner, and so many colleagues at my job, wasted so many weeks cramming for this stupid, irrelevant test. If you add up all the people who have to take this, how many person hours have we wasted as a society, all to be forgotten anyway, because it’s useless information.

    We really need to get rid of this test, or at a minimum strip it down and make it about how to vote and access public services. But even then, if someone wants to learn that, they will of their own accord and in their own time anyway.

    • LordDaveTheKind@piefed.socialEnglish
      21·
      6 months ago

      I’ve passed the test in 2021. To be fair, there are some interesting and relevant topics, such as anything concerning the government structure: elections, judiciary system, Parliament, … Other questions such as the number of volunteers in the National Trust or the London Eye height are completely pointless.

    • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.ukEnglish
      18·
      6 months ago

      20/24 (83%), native Briton.

      Some of those questions are stupid though, on terms of day to day knowledge on Britain.

      If it was actually going to be useful, it would include things about:

      • Letting someone go in front of you in the shop queue if they’ve only got a few things and you’ve got a basket full.
      • Which football teams are “scum” according to supporters of other football teams
      • Which one of PJ & Duncan is PJ and which one is Duncan? (Also known as Ant and Dec)
      • How to apologise for things, even even they’re not your fault
      • Why Piers Morgan is a twat
      • What things you can have a “cheeky” one of i.e. pints, Greggses, sausage rolls, Nandoses, and girls (if you’re MP Lembit Opik).
      • Tomtits@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        7·
        6 months ago

        How long do you wait before beeping the horn if you’re behind a car at the traffic lights and they turn green is another potential one

        • GiveOver@feddit.ukEnglish
          5·
          6 months ago

          I beeped a guy when on holiday in USA once, after a truck didn’t set off for a few seconds. The guy stuck a middle finger out of his window and floored it with a great wheel spin.

          Not sure if I broke the rule by beeping too early, or the American rule is that you always flip off the guy behind you.

      • mannycalavera@feddit.ukEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        my knowledge of NI politics sadly lacking

        Nao nao nao! March march march!

        Something like that probably. 😉

    • bumblefumble@mander.xyzEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      I got 21 and I’m from Denmark. Most of them were not too hard. Some, like British History were a bit harder, but not impossible. The amount of NI parliament members though, that one was a complete shot in the dark.

    • Epistemophiliac@piefed.caEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      83% as a Canadian. Such a weird mix of questions. Maybe 4-5 that actually dealt with civics and governance.

    • ModCen@feddit.ukEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      I’m British born and bred and I got 88%. Some of those questions are interesting and definitely better questions than asking the height of the London Eye.

      Maybe the UK citizenship test should try to select people who support important British principles (rule of law, democracy, religious freedom, legal equality of men and women, etc). But I suppose somebody could pretend to support those things for the purposes of passing a test, and after the test they might decide they don’t believe in democracy after all. Also I’m sure there are born and bred Brits who don’t believe in democracy.

        • jdr@lemmy.mlEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          It’s about eye-level.

          Anyway the test is multiple choice, so maybe if you know it’s about 100m that’s good enough?

          The test is ridiculous, it asked a load of history that I wouldn’t expect normal people to know, Brits or otherwise.

  • Schmookey@feddit.ukEnglish
    6·
    6 months ago

    I had a friend go through this a while back, I swear the arbitrary information they were being asked to remember lol I got 83% in the one posted here, Wouldn’t know about NI ministers and one questions I didn’t realise needed two answers…Yes I wasn’t giving it my 100% attention lol

  • Simon_M@feddit.ukEnglish
    4·
    6 months ago

    Migration Minister, sounds like he works for the RSPB. Call a spade a spade, Immigration Minister?

  • arsCynic@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    Mirror: https://imgur.com/gallery/migration-minister-fails-uk-citizenship-test-question-GJgiKa0, because The Independent is an absolute dogshit ads/analytics infested website.

    The dogshit:

    Screenshot of The Independent ads/analytics dogshit; using uBlock Origin.

    I had to use Tor Browser to load the video because my hosts file blocks all ad/analytics domains using hBlock. Then used OBS Studio to record the video. Then took two screenshots of the uBlock Origin interface and stitched it together with Photopea. All because of human ingenuity stupidity. Goddamn.