My brother Pete passing on in 2005.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 August 2025 source ↗
The question
What disappointment has stayed with you longest?Originally asked
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My brother Pete passing on in 2005.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 August 2025 source ↗
The death of my mother, when I was 18.
Being let down by people I trust always stings.
The internet. Such potential for good and for levelling up the world, but such a quagmire in reality.
That I couldn’t bridge the gap with my parents before they died. My mother died 10 years ago of Alzheimer’s, and my father died two years ago. He left when I was 11 and we got back in touch when I was 22.
I worked in the stores of Edgware hospital when I was about 17, and it was grey and depressing.
Insanity. I am on a recovery programme – clean from drugs and drink for many years – and if I stopped doing all that stuff I’d go crazy pretty quick and pick up drugs again, because I was a real fucking addict.
Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” – I think that’s true.
Gerry Adams, because he’s got incredible integrity and vision, and he’s had to put up with so much flak.
I’d have stuck with the original Dexys Midnight Runners look we started in 1978, which became known as the New Romantic look a couple of years later. Our management and record label talked us out of it. Later, Duran Duran and Spandau came out with that look and that made us look old-fashioned.
The contentment I have now.
Rick Astley, Roger Taylor, Jo Nesbø, Robbie Williams, Mandy Patinkin, Rhys Ifans
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