Guide to help new citizens add to 'modern Britain' ?

Sarah Left Wednesday December 15, 2004 The Guardian
"The Home Office today published a 145-page handbook intended to familiarise prospective citizens with British culture, history, traditions and government, which will serve as the core text for new citizenship tests. . . . . "We want to encourage people who are settling here to acquire a basic knowledge of English and of British society. This is fundamental if we are to help them contribute fully to our national way of life," a Home Office spokesman said.

Pete's Points

The British have lost it! This must be an advertisement for a new "Yes Minister" series.

Just one day after I publish my comments about migrants and refugees requiring some special attention to integrate into our society, the British Home Office comes out with this package.

Their response indicates that if they ever had an idea on how to integrate people into their society, the information was lost when records management died with the introduction of computers.

You have to be kidding!

The publication is a book on British values and history from Roman times to the present costing nearly 10 pounds. It aims to show people arriving in Britain what Britain is all about and giving them a hasty tasty tour of British culture so that when they are required to sit for the citizenship examination they will be able to have sufficient English to get by and at least a rough and ready understanding of the British way of life to help them to make their unique contributions to the future of British society.

Who is kidding whom around here?

If I was a cynic, which of course I am not, then I would be suggesting that this new publication and requirement is actually a way of precluding people from gaining British citizenship. If they can't speak English - fail! If they can't answer questions about British history and customs - fail.

By keeping the standards high the British people can once more isolate themselves in their insular mentality and keep Britain for the British. The people they have let into the country as migrants and refugees can stay there and contribute to the economy, but only when they conform to what is expected from people who wish to join British society will they be given the golden handshake of welcome to Britain.

Let's hope that Australia, with a more recent history of integrating refugees and migrants will not lose its collective memory on how such things are done and impose an additional burden on people as the price for escaping from the conditions that made them refugees in the first place.

Some other excertps from the Guardian provide the contextual information to see this cynical exercise in the appropriate light:

Latest Work plan for failed asylum seekers December 13: More than 600 rejected asylum seekers who cannot go home immediately will have to do compulsory unpaid community work in return for accommodation and benefits, the Home Office has admitted.

British attitudes

Asylum operation racist, say law lords December 10: The law lords ruled yesterday that a Home Office operation at Prague airport to prevent Czech Roma people travelling to Britain to claim asylum amounted to 'inherent and systematic' racism.

UK treatment of Roma 'racist' December 9: Immigration controls set up by the government racially discriminate against Roma Gypsies trying to enter Britain, the law lords ruled today.

Opposition to immigrants hardens under Blair December 7: Liberal intelligentsia want more curbs.