Lemn Sissay: Which trait in yourself do you like least? — FLAPSS

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.

LS

Lemn Sissay

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Believing in, even admiring, people who refuse to believe in me, and not believing people who do.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 239 →

Guy Pearce Australian actor

My fear of confrontation.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 January 2025 source ↗

My tendency to be avoidant.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2026 source ↗

Christian Louboutin

I never let it go.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2021 source ↗

Kathy Lette Australian-British author

I can’t cook. I use my smoke alarm as a timer.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2024 source ↗

More from Lemn Sissay

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Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

I made a suicide attempt at 12 or 13 years old.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

In a photo album of just one family.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question Who deserves an apology from you, and for what? Failure & regret

The Prince and Princess of Wales for not knowing when to leave their home.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

When I was a child, a member of staff at Wood End Assessment Centre [a former children’s home in Wigan] bellowed: “He copies them poems off of Bob Marley records.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

Life is not worth living if there is no one you would die for.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

That I can’t write.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

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