“You've got the whole stuff with transgender toilets and stuff like that - that's no way for a government to behave. We're supposed to be against ISIS, so why are we trying to slowly introduce a country-club version of Sharia law in America, you know? It doesn't make any real sense at all. I think there's going to be a lot of energy, there is already a lot of reaction against that - people are prepared to really stand up and be counted for democracy, and in the process to find out what is and what isn't.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayTryingRealCountryWholeGovernmentAmericaLawEnergyStuffProcessDemocracyPreparedClubsReactionsVersionsSupposed To BeBehaveIntroducingToiletsIsisTransgenderShariaCountry ClubsSharia Law Author:Irvine Welsh
“The first time I went to West Virginia I was surprised by how poor it was. It was like north India, there's kids running around in bare feet. The white working class has been disenfranchised as well. It's been disenfranchised by the liberal-left as well as the conservative-right. You really have to get people right across America and Britain and Europe and the world as a whole concentrating on the economic issues that affect them, because when you don't have that, you have all these phony, racist and cultural wars, and sexist wars.” PeopleWorldFirstsWellsHas BeensWarWholeRunningKidsAmericaLeftWhitePoorClassIssuesFeetEconomicFirst TimeEuropeIndiaWestConservativeBritainRacistWorking ClassVirginiaConcentratingSexistPhonyWest VirginiaBare FeetDisenfranchisedEconomic Issues Author:Irvine Welsh
“I think that Europe has to get its act together very quickly. The Belgian guy who's leading the negotiations against Brexit, he sees it as a whole chance to reboot Europe and reclaim the kind of social mission of Europe from all this corporate, bureaucratic, globalist stuff that has got into, building Europe for the people rather than the banks, again.” PeopleThinkingKindWholeTogetherGuySocialStuffChanceBuildingEuropeMissionsCorporateNegotiationBelgians Author:Irvine Welsh
“The first of the Trainspotting crew to die. Out of the five of them like, Begbie, Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and [Margaret] Thatcher. Who'd have thunk she'd have been the first to go? She was the invisible author of the book, really. She created the conditions and the hubris whereby that whole culture flourished.” FirstsHas BeensBookWholeDiesCultureBoysFiveConditionsSickInvisibleCrewHubrisTrainspotting Author:Irvine Welsh
“I think that there are just so many people that can't afford not to have Obama win. He's gotten so many disenfranchised people back into the political system that if he didn't win, the disillusionment in America and the idea of more of the same failed policies of the last eight years [2000-2008], internationally and domestically, would be so bad for the country and the world as a whole.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldYearsIdeasCountryWholeWould BeLastsAmericaPoliticalWinningPolicyEightPolitical SystemsDisillusionmentDisenfranchised Author:Irvine Welsh
“How stagnant and tepid the whole British political scene is now is just beyond belief.” WholePoliticalBeliefSceneBritishStagnant Author:Irvine Welsh
“You can argue about violence. It's destructive, but people are inherently violent in a lot of ways. Abusing drugs is always bad for people and bad for society, but the whole notion of festival is tied up with intoxication.” PeopleWayWholeViolenceDrugNotionArguingViolentDestructiveTiedFestivalsIntoxicationTied Up Author:Irvine Welsh
“When you look at the whole explosion of the Internet, the decline of print journalism, there are all of these plus-or-minus ramifications, and you have to work it out. The great thing about books is that you have a tactile thing that's there. You can download this or download that, but how long do you want to be staring at a screen for the rest of your life? You've got to have some kind of proper interface for people that's not about the screen.” PeopleWantLooksKindLongBookWholeInternetScreensGreat ThingsJournalismStaringWorking ItPlusPrintDeclineRest Of Your LifeExplosionsMinusDownloadsInterfacesRamificationsTactile Author:Irvine Welsh
“People even split up by text message, they dump each other by text. Everything seems so disposable, so throwaway, but you have to engage with that if you're writing about the modern world. You've also got all these pop references that you feel obligated to make. They're just part of the bricolage of the whole thing, whether or not these are actually significant elements themselves.” PeopleIfsWorldFeelsWritingWholeSeemsModernElementsMessagesPopsSignificantSplitsModern WorldDumpDisposableText Message Author:Irvine Welsh
