I’ve apologised to my son, Thomas, for being absent for quite a lot of his first few years, but, as a working mother and breadwinner, I kind of had to be. I like to think I’ve made up for it.
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Mum, because I never really knew how to cope with her alcoholism.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 209 →I did say sorry to my mum, for being the way I was when I was a teenager. You become a parent and go, “Oh my God, this is what they were doing.”
Don Warrington
British actor
To my brother, because I wish I’d been there for him more.
Marc Almond
English singer
To my first real boyfriend, for being so mean to him. But really I was just being mean to myself.
More from Chris Bryant
View profile →I’d have reported the tutor who asked me to read an essay to him sitting on the toilet as he lay soaping himself in the bath.
When I worked out I was gay and decided to leave the church at 29.
An earthquake in Peru forced me and a young man into the street, where he had to introduce me to his family at three in the morning.
Totalitarianism in Europe.
Getting elected as MP for the Rhondda in 2001 despite everyone saying I was too “exotic” or “flamboyant”, ie gay.
The Doctor in Doctor Who. I still do.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
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