Drafting drafts…

On a tour with some young Americans the other day I told them that The Scotsman wonders if Welsh can repeat the trick of changing national discourse in the field of American gun culture (see previous blogs). One bright young girl said she wasn’t sure if it was...

Plugspotting

Slightly to my surprise, The Scotsman published my letter and here: In your editorial Gunspotting (24 March) you credit Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting with as much influence on public discourse in its subject areas as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Grapes of Wrath and 1984 were...

Gunspotting

The “authorities”, or the “establishment”, are really changing their tune about Irvine Welsh. Twenty years ago he was a flash-in-the-pan author with a foul mind who celebrated hard drugs. Now that he has said his next work of fiction is to be...

Scexit

Here is my reply to my SNP MSP email to me, in the previous blog. Lines from his are in italics. …you’ve passionately put forward your point of view… Well, passion may be part of his repertoire, but I prefer stone-cold sober analysis and assessment. The matter in hand...