Jess Phillips
British politician
The prime minister.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I wanted to be in the WWF – the wrestling one, not the wildlife one.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
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Serena Williams
United States professional tennis player, 1995–2022
A veterinarian.
Emilia Fox
English actress and presenter
A cellist, inspired by my mum and dad’s friendship with Jacqueline du Pré, and seeing a documentary about her.
Busta Rhymes
American rapper
I always wanted to be a rapper.
More from Zack Polanski
View profile →I’ve got no kids, but I’d like us to leave a planet for everyone’s children.
I get trolled on a daily basis so it probably involved my teeth, but that was until I learned to love my teeth.
Proportional representation.
I would say something earnest like stopping the far right, but the truth is nothing keeps me awake at night.
Nothing. Tony Benn, one of my favourite politicians, said, “I don’t care where you’ve been, I care where you’re going.”
Catching Covid. I don’t think any of us know what we’re messing with still to this day.
More on identity & self
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Edmund Hillary, Jon Sopel, Emma Barnett, Chris Bryant, Winston Churchill, Clive Myrie
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