THE creator of Trainspotting has praised a parody video of the film attacking the Conservatives’ “short-term populism”.
Irvine Welsh, the author behind the Edinburgh-based book, shared the video on social media on Wednesday – after Rishi Sunak had given his keynote closing speech to the Conservative conference.
The clip, from the publishing firm Joe, parodies the famed opening scene to Danny Boyle’s movie version of Trainspotting, featuring lead man Ewan McGregor running through the streets of Scotland’s capital.
With the heads of prominent Tories including Sunak, Liz Truss, and Boris Johnson superimposed, the video’s voiceover states: “Choose life. Choose net zero. Choose clean air. Choose my career. Choose a big flip-flopping live.
“Choose ignoring climate experts, in favour of a Daily Mail hack. Choose seven bin gaslighting.
“Choose saying you understand the struggles of ordinary people – while keeping a straight face.
“Choose your friends (well, not working class friends).”
Trainspotting parodies usually bore the shit out of me, but I quite like this one. pic.twitter.com/yTbWqVP19x
— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) October 4, 2023
The video then mocks Johnson as a “deceitful hunt”, and his fellow former Tory prime minister David Cameron – who is labelled “Sick Boy”.
It goes on: “Choose the governmental shelf life of an iceberg lettuce with the financial savvy of a root vegetable.
“Choose sitting on a damp couch, breathing black mould in a mind numbing, spirit crushing Tory shit show.
“Choose nepotism, sycophancy and barely concealed cronyism.”
Finishing with a shot of Sunak, the video says: “I chose short-term populism. And the rail links? There will be no rail links. Who needs railways when you've got a private jet?”
Sharing the video on social media, Welsh said: “Trainspotting parodies usually bore the shit out of me, but I quite like this one.”
Others also praised the video. “This is magic,” one user wrote, while another said: “I was thinking what a work of genius this was, and hadn’t even noticed who posted it. Respect.”
A third added: “We can laugh … but we should be so angry about everything they are doing.”
