8 1GT Monday November 9 2020 | the times

arts

T

here are too many old

c***s with too much to

say for themselves,

myself included. I just

fire things out on

social media —

I’m not

interested in

debate or discussion. So

making the Offended by

Irvine Welsh documentary

for Sky Arts was a learning

opportunity. I didn’t go in

with any preconceived ideas.

I wanted to learn about being

offended from a bunch of

people who I admired,

including Jake Chapman, who

appropriated original watercolours

by Adolf Hitler, the rapper MIA, who

was once accused of supporting

terrorism by speaking out for Tamil

Tigers, and the artist Sarah Maple,

who received death threats for her

paintings about feminism and Islam.

People have become very thin-

skinned and expectant — wanting

there to be a consequence or some

‘People have

become very

thin-skinned

and expectant’

The Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, who has

made a documentary about offence, argues that

having your feelings hurt by others can be a blessing

Irvine Welsh

kind of compensation, like getting

someone to lose their job or livelihood.

People who’ve been punched down,

you can understand. But now

everybody has jumped on to the

idea. If you’re offended, why

should people care? We’re

trying to edit out pain. But if

you don’t have pain, there’s

no growth.

I was directly censored

when posters promoting

my novel Filth at an

independent bookshop in

Southampton were seized by

police. If they’d raided

Penguin Random House,

WH Smith, Waterstones or

supermarkets, then that would

have been problematic. But it was

just bullying — local coppers being

upset. It was fabulous publicity, as it

made people go and buy the book. The

Booker prize thing was great publicity

too. Trainspotting was selected for the

shortlist, then pulled because two of

the judges threatened to resign if it

was included. I was delighted.

Shauna Macdonald

in the film of

Welsh’s novel Filth