At the tail end of 2019, to celebrate INSP’s 25th anniversary, we asked vendors across the street paper network to write letters to their 25-year-old selves. We also asked one of the street paper network’s long-time supporters to do the same: Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. Now 61, the following is the typically foul-mouthed and idiosyncratic words Welsh had for his 25-year-old self.

The internationally acclaimed writer of Trainspotting, and INSP Ambassador, Irvine Welsh took time out from the worldwide press tour for his new book, Dead Men’s Trousers, to talk to INSP about homelessness, living in America and using social media to mobilise.