By Bev Haigh-Jones
Right! I have to say that I am beginning to run out of ways to thank our regular contributing member, John Holloway, for continuing to provide the newsletter with a steady flow of articles and anecdotes. We are, of course, extremely pleased and grateful, but good as John is at writing these pieces to share with other members, we are sure that he does not have an inexhaustible supply. Sooner or later stories of his colourful, eventful life will probably have all been told and we will be short of a feature for the newsletter, which would be very sad.
Can you help? Will you provide something that you think would be of interest to your fellow members? The subject matter is unimportant, although generally most pieces have some relevance to Brexit, or the EU. If you have something in mind and are happy to write it, that is great. If you are not comfortable doing so, or do not have the time to write something yourself, we would be happy to write it for you. In either case, just drop us an email at newsroom@cornwallforeurope.org. You can attach something you have done yourself, or provide a phone number and we will ring you back to get details to write the article for you. We want the newsletter to be a platform for communication and friendship, and that requires more of our members to be involved, if possible.
Over to John:
I recently took a UK citizenship test online –and failed miserably, in spite of the fact that I was born and have lived in the UK for over 60 years, and I have a BA(Hons) and a PhD from one of the top six universities in the country.
The problem is that many of the questions are simply obscure and irrelevant (for example “What was the date of the first FA Cup Final?”), and others are highly contestable. For example: “What is the national dish of England?”. I responded “Fish and chips”, but might equally have said “Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding”, as the English are famous for both. The French even refer to the English “Les Rostbifs”.
However, in the opinion of the British government both are completely wrong. It seems that HMG thinks that the national dish of England is chicken tikka massala, in spite of the fact that it is an Indian dish. No wonder so few refugees actually get accepted.
John Holloway
Add. I also took a trial test and failed, as I only scored 62.5% and 75% is needed for a pass. In the practice tests the questions vary each time, so if you would like to give it a try, you can access it here.
