If you could edit your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Shaun Ryder said elsewhere, not written here
The 12 years I spent in receivership. That was me being a dick. I lost the court case when I wanted to sack my management and had to pay them £120,000. I said, “I am not paying you, because I should have won.”

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 August 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
I sent off the letter. I probably made a technical mistake by giving it to a journalist before hearing from the Prime Minister because this journalist was working for a Sunday newspaper and gave it enormous press, and I think quite rightly the Prime Minister was annoyed that I had not given him the opportunity but never mind.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗

Douglas Booth
I’d give my younger self the lessons I’ve learned over the years, sparing myself the need to figure everything out so publicly.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 February 2025 source ↗

Sadiq Khan Mayor of London since 2016
I would have had more time with my dad before he passed away.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 September 2016 source ↗

Sandi Toksvig Danish and British broadcaster, comedian and writer
I wouldn’t bother learning how to use logarithms, and I might give netball a miss.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 March 2018 source ↗

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