Irvine Welsh: ‘I’m often astounded that any relationships take place these days’

The follow-up to Trainspotting sees Renton, Begbie and co settling down. The bestselling author explains why now is the perfect time for romance

I was born in the great port of Leith. Stories are in my blood; listening to them, telling them. My family were typical of many in the area, moving from tenement to council scheme, increasingly further down the Forth estuary. I was brought up in a close community. I left school with practically no qualifications. I tended towards the interesting kids, the troublemakers. All my own fault. I was always encouraged to be more scholarly by my parents, who valued education. But I left school and became an apprentice technician, doing a City && Guilds course. I hated it. I was always a writer: I just didn’t know it. I cite being crap at everything else in evidence.

It’s why I’ve never stopped writing stories about my youth and my go-to gang of characters from Trainspotting. Their reaction to events and changes in& the world helps inform my own. They’ve been given substance by people I’ve met down the decades, from Leith pubs to Ibiza clubs.