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Angela Merkel. Under attack from all sides, she tries to keep alive the dreams of a tolerant, inclusive, open society.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 August 2018 source ↗
The question
Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
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David Baddiel
Comedian and writer
The comedian Norm Macdonald. He’s the funniest man in the world, but so committed to being funny, he’s continually screwing up his career.
Cat Deeley
English television presenter
Michelle Obama. Her girls were massive fans of So You Think You Can Dance and we were invited to the White House for the Easter egg hunt. She was even more brilliant than you imagine, and we bonded over a love of Beyoncé.
Joseph Opio, a Ugandan writer who has discovered the secrets of happiness.
Pedro Almodóvar
Film director
Dr. Pedro Cavadas, a pioneer in face transplants and a specialist in the transplant of severed members. This surgeon from Valencia devotes his summer breaks to travel to Africa and tend to children who have been castrated in tribal conflicts.
More from Ian McEwan
View profile →In my mid- to late-20s, in London, beginning to publish, living hand to mouth, having fun. Also now, when love and life and work have finally cohered.
To have grown up with my siblings. They were at least 10 years older than me.
The BBC World Service followed by the dawn chorus.
Exhilarating. I’ve been extremely lucky in that the person I love, Annalena, happens to be my wife.
Having a gun held to my head at a May Day rally during the revolution in Grenada. I was mistaken for a CIA agent.
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Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Angus Deayton, Meg Rosoff, Ann Patchett, Nadine Gordimer, John Cooper Clarke
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