I think that in the future, as more and more money and wealth goes to the 1 per cent, it's going to polarize into the people who are for and anti-freedom. It's not that they'll have a left and a right wing thing, it's going to be a freedom and anti-freedom polarization, I think.

It's all been quite a revitalizing process for me, being out there in the States. It wouldn't have happened without Trainspotting.

You have to let people express themselves in the way that they need to express themselves. You have to express yourself in any way possible, provided you're prepared to live with the consequences.

You can't just have stuff that is free and escapist, you have to have stuff that is confrontational as well. You need stuff that is mystical but you need the realism too.

Most people in the West are not politicized. They're the most simplistic consumers - they're animals, basically.

You're never going to get beyond other people's preconceptions of what you are and what you're about.

The first job of a writer is to be honest.