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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.

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Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Read by field Everyone Science and medicine 1 Arts and letters 29 Politics and public life 4 Business and finance 1 Sport 1

Read by age Any age In their thirties 8 In their forties 6 In their fifties 9 In their sixties 9 Seventy and beyond 4

I’d drink less alcohol in the 90s.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2023 source ↗

I’d probably take out a lot of my 20s, when I was rude, annoying and a brat.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 September 2024 source ↗

Absolutely nothing.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 source ↗

I’m not thrilled with my lack of commitment to feminism in my 20s.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 November 2025 source ↗

Nothing. Tony Benn, one of my favourite politicians, said, “I don’t care where you’ve been, I care where you’re going.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗

I’d be happier being myself younger.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2026 source ↗

Nobody has answered this one yet.