Philip Johnston (Extracted from "Exam criticised for leaving out history but including regional accents", Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2005

"Foreigners applying to become British citizens will be expected to know in which part of the country Geordie is spoken -- though they will not necessarily have to understand it."

[Ed We can be sure that the new immigrant-examination will allow 99% of examinees to pass. The political consequences of failing even 5% or 10% will be much too great. Meanwhile, it is highly likely that two large blocs of immigrants in this country will not assimilate and become increasingly ghettoised, in contrast to the much more modest numbers of Sikhs, Hindus and Chinese who have much more successfully dispersed themselves into the social and economic life of the country as previous modest immigrations of Huguenots, Jews and Poles have done. When the examination fails to be applied to all immigrants and when it is realised that it was just a public relations gesture after all, it is likely that a future government, of whatever political persuasion, will soon have to stop immigration tout court -- as will France, Holland, and other European countries where social tension is also rising because of too large aliquots. P.S. For non-UK members of this list I will explain that Geordie is the dialect spoken in the north-east part of the country, but rather looked down on by the élite.]