The browser: Trainspotting, The Prequel? Don't be a muppet

Published on Friday 21 March 2008 16:44

Does anyone remember Muppet Babies, that irksome and vaguely icky '80s cartoon featuring Kermit, Gonzo and Miss Piggy in nappies? Once The Muppet Show had run out of steam, and the films were on hiatus, this frankly daft and poorly animated series kept the dollars rolling in for Jim Henson.

You may not remember it – I do. And so too, it transpires, does Irvine Welsh; or so I deduce from the startling news that he is planning a prequel to Trainspotting. The sequel, Porno, was a resounding dud; but according to Welsh, finding his drafts for Trainspotting reignited his creative fire. We'll learn why Sick Boy got his name, and how Renton being smacked led to Renton taking smack, presumably. It all seems perilously close to an admission of creative entropy. Once the Trainspotting franchise has been asset-stripped, there's only one last refuge – the autobiography. Irvine: My Struggle or From Hibs To Eternity – I can see it now.

Fisticuffs between friends

I spent a fantastic weekend in Ullapool, at Changin Scotland. I'm still unsure if it's a symposium, an informal conference, a politics and culture festival or a set of very interesting speakers, in idyllic surroundings, with good food and quite late nights. The whole affair was different to conventional book festivals. The multimedia approach works well, with books and poetry alongside debates, incredible Georgian polyphony and Nick Higgins' astonishing film about the outsider artist Angus MacPhee. Moreover, the audience was far more prepared to challenge, argue against and contend with the speakers – a minor fracas broke out between Professor Philip Schlesinger and Iain MacWhirter over the broadcasting commission, and a charming ex-communist (who turned out to be Aly Bain's brother) took Toxic Childhood author Sue Palmer firmly to task. Some festivals may be for devotees: Changin Scotland feels more rounded.

Here's some fruit for thought

The longlist for the Orange Prize – too long to quote in full – has some notable exceptions (and I don't mean men, or Scots): Nicola Barker, AL Kennedy, Ali Smith, Lydia Millet, Lionel Shriver. No, it's experiment-lite, with the notable exception of Scarlett Thomas. The chair of the judges, Kirsty Lang, has admitted that "there were a hell of a lot of abused children and family secrets" in their choices, which is no doubt good for glossy magazine interviews but may not be the absolute imprimatur of great literature.

It wasn't all rocket science

While some might remember him for geostationary orbits, the Kubrick opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey or his belief in extra-terrestrials, for me Arthur C Clarke always conjures that rotating crystal skull on his eponymous TV shows, Mysterious World and World Of Strange Powers. It's claimed he put the science into science fiction, and despite his prescience about global communications and the internet, I rather prefer all the fruit-loop, unscientific fiction. Clarke was the rocket boffin for the Dan Dare comics as well – but who remembers the accurate escape velocities over the cackling Mekon?