The question
Which trait in yourself do you like least?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’m slightly impatient.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 September 2025 source ↗
My distractibility, diminishing memory, and capacity for sustained concentration. My English master once said I had the brain of a butterfly. I feel that 40 years later, I’ve evolved into Dory from Finding Nemo.
That I don’t give myself enough credit.
I repeat stories (like my mum used to).
My inability to say no.
Funny, loyal, genuine.
Looking back is not productive.
John McCarthy, the journalist who was held captive for five years in Beirut. I’ve met him and he was so full of peace, humility and forgiveness – it was inspiring.
I last shed a tear when my nephew, who is under 10, announced that he was learning the trombone. When I was about the same age and wanted to learn the trumpet, a music teacher said: “The trumpet isn’t for you. You’ve got too-thick lips.”
“Do you know what your problem is?” It was a dear friend of mine. They were referring to the fact that I’m impatient.
I was a guard on the Orient Express – however, only when it was stationed at a railway siding in Vauxhall.
Paapa Essiedu, Eugene Levy, Robert De Niro, Judy Blume, Leona Lewis, Erin Doherty
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