KT Tunstall: The day I learned the truth about my real dad

When singer-songwriter KT Tunstall was contacted last year by ITV series Long Lost Family, offering to trace her biological father, she swiftly accepted – but had low expectations of a fairytale ending.

Sheridan Smith: ‘People wanted to hear how happy I was. But inside I was screaming’

Three years ago, Sheridan Smith was lost to ‘Drink. Desperation. Humiliation.’ Once the  most promising actor in theatre, she became better known for her offstage troubles than onstage  performances. But now, back with a blockbuster musical role, new fiancé and renewed  sense of purpose, she tells Louise Gannon about hitting bottom – and bouncing back again

My husband’s put-downs have brought us to breaking point

As I walk up the path to my friend Millie’s* home for her 50th birthday party, the familiar nervous butterflies swarm in my stomach. My husband Dan* is at my side. He squeezes my hand as the door opens and we enter the throng. I’m still on edge as we sit down to dinner. Soon, Dan will take centre stage and, as usual, I’ll be the butt of his jokes.

9 weekend plans that midlifers always make... then break

You are going to do a face mask. You’re pretty sure there’s a tube of something mask-y in the cabinet, by the anti-anxiety drops/drugs/gels. Also, you need to find a scrub to prep for the amazing fake-tanning situation that is about to happen.

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Meet Lady Cowdray: polo princess turned mindfulness guru

On a chain around Viscountess Cowdray’s neck hangs a tiny silver seated figure, with a pointed head, a heart and a hole in its middle. It’s called the Meditator and she designed it herself, as a reminder to live in the present moment, rather than fretting about the past or future.

10 skills that you only have if you're a midlifer

Not buttons and hems and socks and stuff. Not darning. No, no, no – can’t do all the Victorian mending. But we are quite good at helping to mend people’s broken hearts, relationship rifts, crises of confidence and shattered self-esteem. It’s what we’re here for, partly. That, and smashing the patriarchy. Oh, and is anyone else getting really quite impressively excellent at mending (or at least briefly prolonging the life of) domestic appliances using YouTube? So satisfying that it’s almost sexual.

The over-30s festival survival guide

Festivals, in the noughties, were the great divider. The litmus test. Were you serious enough about your music to deal with the horror that lay beyond the gates? Could you put aside your personal hygiene, sleep and nutritional requirements for four days? Were you that determined? That hardcore? Could you survive with just 10 packs of Marlboro Lights and a few litres of Jack Daniel’s for sustenance?

The 85-year-old tech entrepreneur who made her staff millionaires

The 'Free the Nipple' campaign is everything I hate about feminism

When I read about the “Free the Nipple” activists protesting topless outside Facebook’s New York headquarters last week, my head lolled forward onto my keyboard to spell this: tt1232!uweirh34 !1kjaeljrk. And actually that’s a pretty accurate summation of how I feel about most of the capricious campaigns embarked on in the name of fourth-wave feminism.

The disastrous truth about dating significantly younger men

Last week, Cosmo Landesman wrote about the appalling truth of dating significantly younger women in this article. Here, writer Kate Mulvey reveals the ups and downs of her experience with younger men after a year of living as a cougar

A midlifer's guide to sex education

So they are modernising sex education. Finally. Making it more inclusive. FINALLY. But here are some lessons and truths that we really think should be included in the curriculum. Since sex is so confusing. For teenagers. And everyone else. Oof. Here are some bits and pieces that may help ‘frame’ the action. Because everything in life is about sex. But sex is always about something else... See? Confusing.

Tube etiquette: How to ride the Underground with style

There's a familiar sound on the Tube that belies collective contempt for those who don't know the rules. It goes: "Eye roll, tut, tssk". The unwritten etiquette guide for the Underground ensures that every passenger can travel anonymously, without undue attention. If you break it, you are thrust front and centre stage as punishment.

Is our fate decided the moment we're born? Why free will may be a (necessary) myth

Pretty pleased with yourself? Won the war with your waistline, picked the right partner, scaled the career ladder and formed some unassailable political views along the way? Bad news. You can take less credit for your life choices (and even those beliefs you hold dear) than you might like to think.

Midlife career switchers: how more professionals are starting again

After a bank holiday weekend, it is easy to find your mind drifting towards the prospect of pastures new: training in something entirely different, perhaps, switching the office for life as an architect or engineer, gardener or restaurateur.

Davina McCall: 'I've been on dates – but why can't a woman be single and happy?'

She’s newly divorced and enjoying life like never before. Davina McCall discusses dating, G-strings, and that killer body with Louise Gannon

10 signs you're guilty of May-nia

Women are more risk averse when it comes to investing, finds biggest UK study into wealth

Leaders from Britain’s biggest financial institutions have pledged to make the finance industry a better place for women following a revealing report on how women approach wealth.

Women in Poland are posting #bananaselfies in support of banned 'suggestive' art

There’s a reason why your Instagram feed is probably flooded with images of people posing with bananas, and no, it’s not because the fruit has fallen prey to an awkward fashion trend. Polish protesters have been taking to social media to share their bananaselfies after artwork featuring bananas was deemed obscene by Poland’s authorities and removed from the National Museum in Warsaw.

Harriet Harman: 'Dear employer: Women are being treated badly as working mothers - this has to stop’

What would you say to your employer - current or previous - if you could? For tens of thousands of women in Britain, it would undoubtedly be something about motherhood.

I married myself and it was truly empowering

The idea to marry myself came to me in January last year, when I was at work one day. Three weeks before, on Christmas Eve, I had received a text message from my boyfriend of five and a half years: “I can’t do this any more, it’s over,” it said. I was a 42-year-old with two children and I had already been divorced twice. It was devastating and left me in a funk, unable to eat, sleep or smile. 

The midlifer's guide to... having your photo taken

We are the most well-documented generation in history. There are so many photographs of us; too many photographs of us. Some good. Many ugly. Others shaming. Best not to think about it too much. Actually, let’s...

My friend Lyra was killed by a terrorist's bullet. We'll never remember her as a victim

I want to tell you about my friend Lyra McKee. By now, you’ve probably read about her senseless murder on the streets of Derry on Thursday night during riots ahead of this weekend’s commemoration of Irish independence. Her death has drawn condemnation from all sides of Northern Ireland’s fractious political spectrum, and has left a gaping hole in the lives of everyone who knew her. She was just 29; a beloved friend, sister, aunt, daughter, and partner.

The moment I came face to face with a polar bear

Nothing quite prepares you for the moment you find yourself face to face with a polar bear. In my long career filming nature documentaries, I have encountered grizzly bears in Alaska and silverback mountain gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda, one of whom knocked me to the ground when he thought I threatened his family. But that didn’t make it any less frightening when I was stood less than ten metres from a polar bear, perhaps the most dangerous predator in the world.

10 signs that you're a midlife risk taker

Life sometimes feels as though it’s all about risk management. And this is because risk – though unnerving – is the magical thinking, the component in our most subliminal calculations that tells us relentlessly: go on, do it. Or lose the chance. So maybe that’s why we go and do crazy stuff like this? Never let it be said that we are not rock stars…