Emily Watkins

2 days ago | inews.co.uk | Emily Watkins

The most awarded artist in Grammy history, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has changed not only music but culture. So, where does such a person spring from? Are they born or made? Her mother Tina Knowles’ memoir Matriarch tackles precisely these questions; while Beyoncé’s father’s involvement in her career is well-known, her mum’s has been less visible — until now. Music fans looking for insider gossip will be largely disappointed, because that’s not the subject of Matriarch.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Emily Watkins

It’s curious, what escapes people’s idea of rudeness. For instance: pointing out someone’s weight is a unanimous no-go, but height – surely even more arbitrary – continues to be fair game. Ditto commenting derogatorily on where someone’s from – at least, as long as it’s Birmingham, England’s second city and first punchline for jokes about idiotic accents and general urban bleakness.

1 week ago | inews.co.uk | Emily Watkins

The Piano is back for a third series and so is its parade of manipulative sob stories. This time, the hunt for the country’s saddest musician – sorry, best amateur pianist – begins in London’s Liverpool Street station, and although the show’s formula remains unchanged, with one forlorn hopeful at a time playing to milling crowds, there is a new face in the judges’ eyrie. Joining old hand Mika, and replacing nana-heartthrob Lang Lang, is the wildly overqualified Jon Batiste.

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Emily Watkins

With its neat decimal points and quantifiable figures, money might seem objective – in reality, it’s one of life’s most emotionally loaded topics. Do you feel rich or broke? Do you prioritise experiences or possessions? Spend or save what’s spare? And what happens when the way you feel about money is out of whack with reality? Turns out, there’s a name for that last one: money dysmorphia, for which Google searches have rocketed 136 per cent in the past year.

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Emily Watkins

When Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest living person, died last year aged 117, she drew a frenzy of commentators sifting her lifestyle for some silver bullet that might account for her longevity. Was it something she ate? A practice she kept? Many have since landed on Branyas’s penchant for yoghurt, which she ate three times a day, as an explanation for her long life.