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 don’t say that I’m perfect but there’s nothing that I deplore.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 August 2025 source ↗
Impatience. I’m not very good at waiting around or dealing with things that aren’t moving at a pace that I want them to.
I can be a people-pleaser, to the detriment of my own needs sometimes.
I can always see two points of view, which makes it hard to have a row.
Impatience. The inability to ever finish a knitting project.
Gloria Hunniford’s wedding at Hever Castle 20-odd years ago. We had a lovely buffet and a few drinks and then I had to get a cab back to the train station. I said to the driver: “I’m ever so sorry, but I’m not going to be able to hang on till I get to the train. Could you possibly take me down this alleyway?” He said: “Yes, of course.” As I prepared myself to go “to the ladies”, this police car came along and the policeman said: “Hi-de-Hi!”
People who aren’t kind enough.
Like you’ve got no other thought in your head.
Stay out of other people’s business.
Kind, fun and professional.
A hand-painted beaded dress from New York. It weighs about 16lb and cost me £4,000, 30 years ago.
Marina Abramović, Betty White, Jim Kerr, Juliet Stevenson, Sarah Hadland, Peter Sarsgaard
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