Did I behave in the right way?
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Worrying that I’ve upset people.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 194 →It’s my snoring that keeps Loreto awake!
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 March 2025 source ↗
Rachel Whiteread
English artist
As I get older, sleeping gets harder. I exercise, I do mindfulness, I take drugs occasionally.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2017 source ↗
Zoe Ball
British TV and radio personality
My son playing drum’n’bass.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 December 2020 source ↗
More from Julie Hesmondhalgh
View profile →An old camper van that has cost me more in repairs than my house, my wedding and all the holidays I’ve ever been on.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
To all those whose fleeting interaction with me has fallen short of what they’d hoped; the unwitting recipients of my occasional grumpiness.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
I cleaned for a very posh lady in Knightsbridge who made me handwash her knickers. I’d advertised myself in The Lady as a dog walker, so I’m not sure how I ended up there.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
Every time I got drunk and out of order. Especially in my teens and 20s.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
That the last general election didn’t take place later. We might have got rid of the Tories with a couple more weeks.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
Childbirth. And the wheel of our camper van coming clean off on the M1.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2018 source ↗
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