Keith McNally: What trait do you most dislike in other people?

The question

What trait do you most dislike in other people?

Originally asked

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

A verbatim standing question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A questionnaire, documented across respondents and years.

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

Keith McNally

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Using knowledge as a weapon.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2026 source ↗

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Angela Griffin British actress and television presenter

People who are not self-aware.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 August 2022 source ↗

Bernadette Peters

People’s need to feel superior to others. All it does is cause judgment and hate.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2025 source ↗

Sam Ryder

Probably the same thing.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 August 2023 source ↗

Leona Lewis

Cruelty to animals or children.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗

More from Keith McNally

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Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

My children dying before me.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2026 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

Cycling around Martha’s Vineyard alone in the summer of 1976.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2026 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

Craving the kind of success I pretend to despise.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2026 source ↗

Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

Taking an overnight train in Europe.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 20 January 2026 source ↗

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