Lionel Shriver: If you could edit your past, what would you change?

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 Lionel Shriver said elsewhere, not written here

I would have taken more drugs.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗

Others on this question

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Billy Ocean British singer

I would do a lot more investments.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 August 2016 source ↗

Penny Lancaster

I would be less naive.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗

Kim Wilde English pop singer

There are several boyfriends I wish our paths had not crossed.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 August 2019 source ↗

Shirley Ballas English ballroom dancer

I would be much more available for my brother when he was not well and try to understand more about mental health, which I didn’t know anything about at the time.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 June 2018 source ↗