Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Guz Khan said elsewhere, not written here
To my cousin P, who was one of my best mates growing up. We lost him when we were in our 20s and, before he passed away, I was so busy with this stupid thing called life and a brand new kid. He called me and said: “Bro, I’m not feeling right.” And I said: “Bro, you’ve never been feeling right.” And it always sits on my head that if me or somebody else had been paying more attention maybe things would have worked out different. He had extremely rare bowel cancer and died five weeks later at 27.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 December 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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John Simpson English journalist
I’d like to say sorry to my mother. I had to choose between my parents, and I chose my father because he didn’t have any other kids. (My mother was a war widow and had two children from her first marriage.) I thought, in a childish way, that one had to be fair. It was very difficult for my mother and me, and we never really got over it.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 December 2016 source ↗
Michelle Dockery British actress
A teacher at my secondary school. We used to write and sing songs about him. Sorry, Sir! You were a great teacher.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2020 source ↗
When I was in my 20s, I had an uncle who took his own life. I would like a second chance to say: “Hang in there.” My parents were living abroad, and me and my sister were just too young to notice the flags.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2026 source ↗
Scott Mills English radio DJ and television presenter
Katy Perry. I hired a Russell Brand lookalike as a joke for the radio, and she thought it was actually him. When she realised it wasn’t, she burst into tears. She was still married to him, but I didn’t take into account that there were things going on that we didn’t know.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗

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