'I hated Thatcher, but I was one of the people who benefited. It was a kind of liberation'

These days Irvine Welsh lives in Chicago and winters in Miami.

"Chicago winters are brutal," he says. "Being Scottish, you want to trade up." Yet he still feels at home in Leith. He's at home today, sitting in the Now Rest cafe, Bonnington Road, one of his old haunts. "This place was the Canasta back then. It used to be run by this old Italian guy. A very grumpy character. I remember coming in here many a time, hungover or f***** and drinking this really milky coffee."

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