Kerry Godliman: What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

The question

What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

Originally asked

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

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

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

Kerry Godliman

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

This country’s enchantment with privately educated, self-serving liars.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Marian Keyes Irish writer

Not having had children.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 January 2021 source ↗

Penny Lancaster

Trusting someone and being let down.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗

Jesse Jackson American minister, activist and politician

Many have fought for and even lost their lives to end segregation, to win the right to vote. It disappoints me to now have to cajole people to register and to vote.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2012 source ↗

Shaun White American snowboarder and skateboarder

The first video game I was in. I was 13 and video games were the world for me, and my character was awful. He had this terrible orange 'fro, his voice was a man's and he was slow and didn't turn well – nothing like me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 March 2010 source ↗