I can always see two points of view, which makes it hard to have a row.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’m slightly impatient.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
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Alice Waters
Chef, restaurateur and food activist
The inclination to pretend I read a friend’s book when maybe I didn’t completely finish.
Craig Charles
English actor
Cowardice. There are so many issues that I would like to express opinions about but I’m too scared to stick my head above the parapet because of the social media pile-on.
Procrastination.
More from Stephen K Amos
View profile →Ignorance and rudeness. Decency and a please and thank you cost nothing.
“Do you know what your problem is?” It was a dear friend of mine. They were referring to the fact that I’m impatient.
The notion that anything is possible.
Looking back is not productive.
I was a guard on the Orient Express – however, only when it was stationed at a railway siding in Vauxhall.
John McCarthy, the journalist who was held captive for five years in Beirut. I’ve met him and he was so full of peace, humility and forgiveness – it was inspiring.
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Julie Andrews, Pauline McLynn, Joyce Carol Oates, Father John Misty, Adam Kay, Paul McKenna
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