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’m quite stubborn.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 November 2025 source ↗
I’m argumentative.
I’ve learned to give myself a break. Everyone should.
I’m incredibly patient with a lot of stuff, but incredibly impatient with other things. I deplore the impatient side.
The fact that sometimes my mouth is a little too big and a little too open and sounds too much like a sailor.
People who aren’t polite.
I’m afraid of the dark.
On stage with my band.
A pair of Back to the Future shoes. They were auctioned off for Michael J Fox’s Parkinson’s charity, so I bid and I won. I am a huge fan of the films and if there was ever a pair of shoes I should own, it was those.
Very complicated.
“You’re not in Busted any more.” I successfully auditioned to be in Busted and then a couple of days later I got a phone call to say that I was no longer needed as they were going to keep it as the three of them. But it ended up being OK.
Clare Bailey Mosley, Joseph Fiennes, Sarah Perry, Helen Mirren, Dervla Kirwan, Michelle Yeoh
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