Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim standing question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A questionnaire, documented across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 August 2025 source ↗
Generally speaking, envy, resentment, revenge, and self-pity are disastrous modes of thought. Self-pity gets pretty close to paranoia and paranoia is one of the very hardest things to reverse. You do not want to drift into self-pity.
Trolling, meanness and male violence.
Looking down at other people. I was brought up to treat people as you treat yourself, with respect. The people you meet on the way up are the people you meet on the way down.
Being judgmental – how dare they!
I don’t say that I’m perfect but there’s nothing that I deplore.
We drift off to a beautiful place where we live a better, fuller life than what we’ve left.
Gloria Hunniford’s wedding at Hever Castle 20-odd years ago. We had a lovely buffet and a few drinks and then I had to get a cab back to the train station. I said to the driver: “I’m ever so sorry, but I’m not going to be able to hang on till I get to the train. Could you possibly take me down this alleyway?” He said: “Yes, of course.” As I prepared myself to go “to the ladies”, this police car came along and the policeman said: “Hi-de-Hi!”
Stay out of other people’s business.
For bringing positivity to people.
A hand-painted beaded dress from New York. It weighs about 16lb and cost me £4,000, 30 years ago.
Bernadette Peters, Anthony Hopkins, Esther Freud, Ally McCoist, Sharleen Spiteri, Richard Feynman
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