I am doing a Shore Walk from Carrier's Quarters pub (Bernard Street) from 6.30 pm on Thursday 9 May. We should be back in the pub within the hour. Most of it will be a general introduction to the core of Leith, but outside Shore Bar I won't resist reading from the...

There's no doubt that Trainspotting the film is about heroin. It shapes the narrative and the structure, and the film pretty well earns the alternative title of 'A Junkie's Progress'. De-personalising the issues, it goes like this: heroin is seductive and dangerous,...

If Renton's character is in question (see previous blog), Johnny Swan (nickname Mother Superior) as a real character is barely even there! In the film he is mainly seen in his lurid, semi-derelict den, fulfilling the public perception of his trade as a dealer. And yet...