The question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?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.
People who aren’t polite.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 November 2025 source ↗
People who are proud of their ignorance.
Willful ignorance.
Trying too hard to be funny.
I don’t like false or opportunistic people.
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.
On stage with my band.
“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.
I was in Oliver! when I was 10 and I peed myself on stage in front of however many people the Palladium holds. It was the stuff of nightmares.
I’m afraid of the dark.
Seeing my kids getting older scares me.
Eleanor Tomlinson, Lolita Chakrabarti, Hugh Grant, Richard Schiff, John Waters, Toni Collette
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