UK Citizenship Test

[SayidSomal]

1. Which king had his powers curbed by the Magna Carta?

a) Alfred the Great

b) Charles I

c) John

 

2. Which year did all women over 21 get the vote in Britain?

a) 1945

b) 1900

c) 1928

 

3. Which three branches of authority need to agree to a law before it can

a) The House of Commons, Lord Chancellor and the Queen

b) The House of Commons, the Lords and the Queen

c) The Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the police

 

4. Are you

a) a subject of the Crown ?

b) a citizen of the Crown?

c) a defender of the Crown?

 

5. Why is the Union Flag made up of its particular colours?

a) It was chosen by Henry VIII

b) It’s made up of the flags of St George of England, St Patrick of Ireland and

St Andrew of Scotland

c) It’s made of the flags of England and the flags of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and

Wessex

 

6. Is a man allowed to punish his wife physically as long as it’s in his own

a) Yes, although not with any recognized weapon

b) Yes, though only under provocation

c) No

 

a) Charles 7. Which English monarch broke away from the Roman Catholic Church?

b) Elizabeth I

c) Henry VIII

 

8. Who was the only politician in British history to abolish parliament?

a) Cromwell

b) Gladstone

c) Churchill

 

9. What building did Guy Fawkes famously fail to blow up?

a) Buckingham Palace

b) Houses of Parliament

c) 10 Downing Street

 

10. How long can a British government stay in office before a general election?

a) 4 years

b) 6 years

c) 5 years

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

That was fairly straight forward. Citizenship should be about being a responsible member of society, not learning English history (Not even welsh, sottish or even Irish history.) This distorts what being a good citizen is all about. And anyway, how many indigenous English people would know the answers to these cultural bias and gender-specific and patriarchal questions. The UK govt is at a complete lost on this discriminating policy.

[chubacka]

Where are the answers?

[-Lily-]

Originally posted by S*S:

6. Is a man allowed to punish his wife physically as long as it’s in his own

a) Yes, although not with any recognized weapon

b) Yes, though only under provocation

c) No

I mean really, who comes up with this stuff?

[ElPunto]

I could pass that test. As if old Somali grannies are really expected to know the responses. Heck - most born and bred Brits likely don't know the answers. Citizenship tests don't mean much at all.

[SayidSomal]

Lily:

The BBC Today Programme invited a politician (Barry Sheerman MP), a historian (Andrew Roberts), a race equality specialist (Trevor Phillips), a Muslim journalist (Sarah Joseph) and an economist (Madsen Pirie) to devise these questions, to test the knowledge of British law, history and constitution of potential UK citizens.

Chubacka: ask max powers since he found it 'fairly straight forward'.

 

another question was "how many indians are in britain?"

[chubacka]

Lily I was starring at no.6 for ages too, thinking if it made sense or not.

 

SS, is that your way of saying I don't have a clue where or what the answers are?!

[SayidSomal]

Chubacka - not necessarily.

 

btw - number six was intended for the "those who defend their honour" in their households and the right answer according to the british law might shock you and lily.

[SayidSomal]

here are the answers folks:

 

Which king had his powers curbed by the Magna Carta?

 

The answer is John. His name during his lifetime, incidentally, was Jean, not John, as he was

French.

 

2. Which year did all women over 21 get the vote in Britain?

 

The answer is 1928. The decision to permit women to vote at all was made in 1918. But at

that time only women aged at least 30 were allowed to vote. Women first used their vote

on the same basis as men on 30 May 1929. It was not until 1969 that people aged 18, both

women and men, were allowed to vote.

 

3. Which three branches of authority need to agree to a law before it can

come into force?

 

The answer is the House of Commons, the Lords and the Queen. The Lords frequently make

amendments to proposed legislation, but when there is disagreement between Lords and

Commons, the view of the Commons prevails – in practice, though not constitutionally. The

role of the monarch is purely symbolic and does not involve her or him personally.

 

4. Are you a) a subject of the Crown, b) citizen of the Crown, or c) defender of

the Crown?

 

The answer is that strictly speaking the British are subjects, not citizens.

 

 

5. Why is the Union Jack made up of its particular colours?

 

The answer is that it’s made up of the flags of St George of England, St Patrick of Ireland and

St Andrew of Scotland. It was created in 1801. Subsequently (1923) the country now known

as Ireland (as distinct from Northern Ireland) left the UK, but the flag remained unchanged.

The correct name for the flag is the Union Flag, not the Union Jack. The latter term is derived

from sailors’ slang.

[SayidSomal]

6. Is a man allowed to punish his wife physically as long as it’s in his own

home?

 

The answer is Yes,though only under provocation and only with tooth brush preferable with tooth paste on it. It is arguably worrying, or indeed very worrying, that the experts who phrased this question thought it worth asking such common knowledge.

 

 

7. Which English monarch broke away from the Roman Catholic Church?

 

The answer is Henry VIII. The break occurred in the 1530s and the monarch’s motivation was secular not religious.

[SayidSomal]

8. Who was the only politician in British history to abolish parliament?

 

The answer is Oliver Cromwell (mid-17th century). The episode is a reminder that British

history has at times contained major conflicts and disruptions. So are several of the other

episodes referred to in this test – in particular numbers 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9.

 

9. What did Guy Fawkes famously fail to do?

 

The answer is that Guido Fawkes, known after his death as Guy, failed with his fellowconspirators

to blow up the Houses of Parliament. The year was 1605 and the day was 5 November. Nowadays, ‘Guy Fawkes Day’ is widely celebrated by children with bonfires and fireworks. Fawkes and his fellow conspirators were Catholics and did not want a Protestant monarch (James I) on the English throne.

 

 

10. How long can a British government stay in office before a general election?

 

The answer is five years. Most governments, however, last rather less than this. Typically, the government of the day calls an election when it judges it has the best chance of winning –

usually after about four years.