Duncan Taylor
Embajador del Reino Unido de la Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Nte.
TW: @UKinMexico
FB:ukinmexico
• 2015 es diferente a otros años porque las actividades y eventos no sólo se enfocarán al intercambio cultural. Esta es la primera vez que se colaborará en educación, ciencia e innovación; comercio e inversión; economía creativa, y por supuesto, las artes.
• El anuncio oficial del Año del Reino Unido en México y de México en Reino Unido se realizó durante la visita de su Alteza Real Príncipe de Gales a México en noviembre.
• El Reino Unido es el 5to inversionista más grande de México.
• México es el 2do aliado comercial más grande de Reino Unido en América Latina.
Otros nombres clave:
• Diego Gómez Pickering, Embajador de México en el Reino Unido
• Nick Clegg: Primer Ministro británico
Programas:
1. Artes y economía creativa
• Más de 100 actividades a lo largo del año en diversas ciudades del país, en el campo de las artes visuales, la música y las artes escénicas, la literatura, la cinematografía, el diseño, la arquitectura, la moda y el estímulo a las industrias culturales.
• El Reino Unido estará presente en algunos de los más importantes festivales internacionales de México, como el Festival Cervantino, el Festival de Mayo de Guadalajara, el Festival de Música Electrónica y Cultural Digital MUTEK, el Abierto Mexicano de Diseño, el festival de documentales Ambulante, y el festival de arquitectura y cultura urbana MEXTROPOLIS.
2. Educación, Ciencia e Innovación
• El público mexicano podrá conocer más sobre la enorme variedad de la oferta educativa británica en universidades, posgrados, investigación, enseñanza del inglés y habilidades para el empleo de acuerdo con las necesidades sociales y productivas del mundo moderno.
• RCUK (Research Councils United Kingdom) apoyará investigaciones conjuntas, de modo que México pueda dialogar y cooperar con la comunidad científica británica, que cuenta con una de las bases de investigación más importante de Europa.
3. Comercio e inversión
• Un momento destacado será el Foro de Negocios (Business Forum) encabezado por los empresarios de más alto nivel tanto en México como el Reino Unido. Su meta principal es identificar nuevos métodos y estrategias para promover los vínculos de negocios de manera más eficaz.
• Delegaciones comerciales británicas visitaran México para participar en eventos de gran relevancia para los intereses de ambos países, como ANTAD y la Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara.
Sobre Duncan Taylor
• Duncan Taylor ingresó al servicio exterior británico en 1982 y desde Octubre 2013 es Embajador del Reino Unido en México.
• Previo a este cargo fue Gobernador de las Islas Caimán, territorio británico de ultramar.
• Ha trabajado en puestos diversos dentro del servicio exterior, los cuales incluyen la dirección de la sección de Japón y la jefatura del Servicio Consular. Ha fungido como Alto Comisionado Británico para Barbados y el Este del Caribe, trabajado en La Habana, Budapest y Nueva York. Antes de ingresar al servicio exterior, el Señor Taylor trabajó en Gulf Oil (GB) por dos años. También permaneció un año con la compañía Rolls Royce trabajando como Director para Asuntos de América Latina.
¿Sobrevirías al inglés británico?
Ace – If something is ace it is awesome.
Aggro – Short for aggravation, it’s the sort of thing you might expect at a football match. In other words – trouble!
Baccy – Tobacco. The sort you use to roll your own.
Barmy – If someone tells you that you’re barmy they mean you have gone mad or crazy. For example you’d have to be barmy to visit England without trying black pudding!
Bender – I used to go out on a bender quite frequently when I was at university. Luckily bender doesn’t only mean a gay man, it also means a pub crawl or a heavy drinking session.
Bespoke – We say something is bespoke if it has been created especially for someone, in the same way that you say custom. For example a computer program might be bespoken for a client, or you may order a bespoke holiday, where the travel agent creates an itinerary around your exact requirements.
Blimey – Another exclamation of surprise. «Gawd Blimey» or «Gor Blimey» or even «Cor Blimey». It is all a corruption of the oath God Blind Me.
Blinkered – Someone who is blinkered is narrow minded or narrow sighted – they only see one view on a subject. It comes from when horses that pulled carriages wore blinkers to stop them seeing to the side or behind them which stopped them from being startled and only let them see where they were going.
Blunt – If a saw or a knife is not sharp we say it is blunt. It is also the way most of us speak! In America the knife would be dull.
Botch – There are two expressions here – to botch something up or to do a botch job. They both mean that the work done was not of a high standard or was a clumsy patch. My Dad used to always tell me that workmen had botched it up and that he should have done the work properly himself.
Chuffed – You would be chuffed to bits if you were really pleased about something.
Cram – Before a big exam you would be expected to cram. This simply means to study hardin the period running up to the exam.
Dear – If something is dear it means it is expensive. I thought Texan insurance was dear.
Duff – Anything that is duff is useless, junk, trash. It usually means that the object doesn’t do the job it was intended for. Our last Prime Minister was pretty duff!
Duffer – Any person that is duff could be referred to as a duffer. The Prime Minister was a duffer.
Dull – You would say something that was no longer sharp was dull. We would say blunt. To us something is dull if it is boring. It can apply to things – like a film could be dull. It also applies to people – I can think of several people who are dull!
Filch – To filch is to steal or pilfer. The origin is apparently unknown.
Flog – To Flog something is to sell it. It also means to beat something with a whip, but when your wife tells you she flogged the old TV it is more likely she has sold it than beaten it (hopefully!).
Gutted – If someone is really upset by something they might say that they were gutted. Like when you are told that you have just failed your driving test!
Haggle – To haggle is to argue or negotiate over a price. Most people that wangle stuff are usually quite good at haggling. I just learnt that in the USA you dicker over a price, particularly for used cars!
Hanky panky – Hanky panky – or «slap and tickle» as some older folks call it – would bemaking out in America.
Hard – After your 20 pints of lager, the curry or the doner, your average 20 year old feels hard. Since his male organ has no chance of working at this stage, hard clearly refers to something else – it means he is ready to fight anything or anybody or to take on any bet. This is the time to make fun of drunken lads by betting them they can’t jump off the end of the pier, hang on to the back of a bus etc.
Hard lines – This is another way of saying hard luck or bad luck.
Posh – Roughly translates as high class, though if you look at Posh Spice there are clearly exceptions to the rule! Comes from the cabins used by the upper class on early voyages from England to India. The coolest (and most expensive cabins) were Port side on the way Out andStarboard on the way Home.
Potty – This isn’t just the thing you sit a toddler on – if you are potty it means you are a Little crazy, a bit of a looney, one card short of a full deck.
Read – If someone asks you what you read at university, they mean what was your major at school.
Wangle – Some people have all the luck.
Yakking – This means talking incessantly – not that I know anyone who does that now!
Zed – The last letter of the alphabet. The English hate saying zee and only relent with names such as ZZ Top (Zed Zed Top does sound a bit stupid!).
