Firstpost Editor's Pick: Irvine Welsh on Trainspotting, National Trust Survey, Bajaj Allianz officials dupe farmers; today's must-read stories

The National Trust Survey conducted by Firspost and Ipsos shows Narendra Modi and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance hold a clear edge over the United Opposition Alliance or Mahagathbandhan as the race to the 2019 Lok Sabha Election enters its final lap. However, the actual selection of candidates by parties, the campaign messaging and political narrative has the potential to win the trust of the electorate and ultimately swing the election one way or another.

“Get out and have fun. Live a life. Travel. Take shit jobs. Have multiple romances. Take a lot of drugs. Only then, write. No great books came from a bedroom,” says Irvine Welsh, author of the iconic book, Trainspotting. The Scottish writers’s book was brought to life on the screen by filmmaker Danny Boyle in the namesake film, which immediately caught the fancy of the 90s punk generation that identified with it instantly. In an email interview, Welsh, who will be at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, talks about taking a plunge into writing, adaptations of his work, and how Edinburgh has changed over the years.

Movie review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui powers Abhijit Panse’s propaganda-laden film In Thackeray, Siddiqui wraps himself into the polarising politician’s credo as snugly as the saffron shawl that hangs off Bal Keshav Thackeray’s shoulders. Siddiqui fills the frame right from his entry into a courtroom dock, where Thackeray is under-trial for instigating the demolition of Babri Masjid. He stays in character even as the younger man back in 1960 who quit his job as a cartoonist with a newspaper to launch his own weekly journal, Marmik.

“You need your body to be strong and fit so that you are able to give it a good shot as well. Because the big halls will drain you, where physically you are playing against the conditions first and then against opponents. I think it is very important to be strong there and go with good fitness there and then I think there is a good chance to win. There is drift, plus the slow court, you have to be strong on such courts,” says National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand.

On 16 January, 2019, Yogesh Shelke, a former employee of Bajaj Allianz released a video claiming Maharashtra Gramin Bank and Bajaj Allianz officials have duped debt-ridden farmers, promising crop loan only on purchase of insurance policy. “If a farmer asks for a loan of Rs 1 lakh, he is compelled to take policies of Rs 20,000,” he said in the video.