Irvine Welsh’s response to the Pick For Britain Trainspotting rip-off was nothing less than it deserved
As we probably all know by now, British crops are at risk of rotting due to a shortage of people to pick them as the Eastern Europeans who usually do it are unable to travel.
Next year, they won’t meet the government’s lower earning threshold, but that’s another story.
To deal with the problem, there is a huge recruitment drive for a modern “land army” of pickers – as Prince Charles explained in a recent video, and this is one advert from that campaign.
I see the government is ripping off @IrvineWelsh now. pic.twitter.com/YDHcowqMjJ
— Mic Wright (@brokenbottleboy) May 21, 2020
There’s a TV ad, too – in much the same vein.
We're proud to be supporting the #PickForBritain initiative with @ITV. For more information, visit: https://t.co/EW6hW5iEk5 pic.twitter.com/vjNeL1YMMd
— Waitrose & Partners (@waitrose) May 21, 2020
All a bit too reminiscent of this, from Irvine Welsh‘s brilliant “Trainspotting”.
The approach was viewed with a certain cynicism on Twitter.
the audacity of a conservative government telling us to put food on other people's plates when they've spent the past 10 years making sure thousands of people had empty plates in the first place
— Jesster (@the_mighty_fine) May 21, 2020
Pick something else you unoriginal fun ruining bastards. Pick not being a bunch of useless pricks. Pick actually running the country. Pick going ahead with pretty much anything you promise without there being a shitty caveat. Pick not being led by a sentient portaloo. https://t.co/fOM31mwSgf
— Tiernan Douieb (@TiernanDouieb) May 21, 2020
All promoted by a prince who doesn’t even pick out his own suit. #pickforbritain pic.twitter.com/uE7zN2rzBj
— Malcolm Tucker Esq 🕷 (@Tucker5law) May 22, 2020
Mitch Benn predicted a seismic reaction from the Trainspotting author.
Looking forward to Irv seeing this https://t.co/5ifsHOvoBB pic.twitter.com/2FbRPTbXcB
— Mitch Benn🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@MitchBenn) May 21, 2020
He wasn’t wrong.
Just when you thought the cunts could not sink any lower… https://t.co/2dlNhraSWC
— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) May 21, 2020
He went on to give his assessment of Pick For Britain, in characteristic style, and it’s a thing of scathing beauty.
Pick #brexit Pick being conned by inbred toffs telling you immigrants now trying to save you were fucking up your life. Pick exploitative slave labour wages in ‘jobs’ you will replace them in. Pick all the shite you didn’t read on the side of a bus. Or don’t. It’s picked for you. https://t.co/2dlNhraSWC
— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) May 21, 2020
Finally, a tweeter named Jon had a further point about the campaign.
People always stop before the end when they rip this off, don't they? Because what you've got here is the government telling us to pick heroin over fruit picking https://t.co/fN5NBrkNMx
— Jon (@_yowwwww) May 22, 2020
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This Trainspotting lockdown parody is so good it got Irvine Welsh’s seal of approval
Source Mic Wright Image Mic Wright, YouTube Movie Clips
