Gender-affirming surgery. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not widely available on the NHS and a lot of it you have to pay for yourself.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 July 2025 source ↗
The question
Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Gender-affirming surgery. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not widely available on the NHS and a lot of it you have to pay for yourself.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 July 2025 source ↗
A sports car. I was in my 20s; I’d fallen out with my boyfriend, so to cheer myself up I got myself a little silver and black Mazda and a matching jumper and jacket. And do you know what, it worked. I saw him do a double take.
A trip that was, like, $100k. It was a lot of money and I didn’t even go on it. It was to St Barts. I paid for me and my friends and a lot of stuff fell apart, and then it ended up with one of my friends just going with his girlfriend.
An Andy Warhol Polaroid of Debbie Harry.
An electric-yellow mohair rug.
Before transitioning, I had a severe eating disorder. The doctor said, “Your body’s shutting down and if you don’t improve your mental and physical wellbeing, you’ll die.” Shortly after that, I started transitioning medically and my eating disorder resolved.
Cancel culture: getting stuck on the discourse rather than looking at the system.
At university, I worked at a hotel in housekeeping. We saw so many weird things in people’s rooms. Guests would leave sex and party stuff behind!
Victoria Rose, a British surgeon operating on children in Gaza.
Everybody I’ve lost to suicide. When someone dies in that tragic way, you always feel you could have done more.
Apart from stuff on social media, an ex-partner telling me I’m unlovable.
Nadiya Hussain, Julian Lennon, Anita Rani, Philippa Dunne, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Miriam Margolyes
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