This is the best preserved medieval street in Europe.
Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, The Shambles in York, England has had shops trading on it for nearly a thousand years. It's older than the Crusades.
WHAT THE HELL IS “BREWED” MILK?
and why does Mossgiel taste like RAW milk?
I didn’t set out to “brew” milk - I set out to let people taste what Raw milk actually tastes like, but legally.
And that’s harder than it sounds, because in Scotland, raw milk is completely illegal. Not “restricted” - fully illegal. No loopholes or workarounds - I couldn't even sell it as pet food or bath milk!
So that left pasteurisation but the problem is, pasteurisation isn’t just pasteurisation.
At one end, you’ve got small farms gently heating milk, trying to keep it as close to raw as possible. It’s slow, energy intense and you can’t really scale it.
At the other end, you’ve got the big dairies. Higher heat, fast processing, massive volumes. They strip bits out, smash the cream into tiny pieces so it never separates and stays perfectly uniform till it's use-by. It works - but it changes the taste and the texture of milk, becoming something less natural.
That’s the milk most people drink, and I hated it.
After ten years away from the farm, I went off milk; because I knew what it used to taste like - what it should taste like.
So when we decided to do this, I had a problem - I wanted that real taste back.
But I didn’t have the money for the kind of kit that would let me do it properly at scale, so I improvised.
I bought a yoghurt machine and then started messing with it. Bolting bits on, welding bits together, pushing it way beyond what it was ever meant to do - and instead of speeding things up, we slowed everything down.
We treated the milk properly, gave it time, used less heat in smaller batches. We actually worked with it instead of forcing it through a system and somewhere along the way, without really meaning to… we accidentally created something different.
Someone, somewhere called it “brewed milk” - and it stuck.
It's not a gimmick, or a marketing line. It's the result of doing things a different way because the normal way didn’t feel right.
And in 2 days we take it on a new journey, to a new place, with a new mission...
One storm. One fallen tree. One field in the Lake District. ✏️
The entire global pencil industry.
There is a field in the Lake District. Nothing remarkable about it. Fell sheep, grey sky, Cumbrian rain.
Until one day a storm came through. It uprooted a tree and underneath the roots was something nobody had ever seen before.
A black substance. Soft, dark, left a mark on everything it touched.
The shepherds didn't know what it was, but they used it to mark their sheep.
That was 1565.
It was the purest deposit of graphite ever found on earth. The only one like it. Ever. 🌍
Word spread fast.
The Crown seized the mine, put armed guards on the fell and flooded it between diggings to keep the price high.
Stealing graphite became a criminal offence.
Punishable by transportation to Australia.
Because this wasn't just for marking sheep.
It was perfect for lining cannonball moulds. It made England's cannonballs rounder. Faster. More deadly. ⚔️
England had a pencil monopoly for nearly a century. Every artist, every cartographer, every engineer in Europe. All of them wanted what was in that one Cumbrian field.
Slowly, workshops appeared in nearby Keswick. Cottage industries. Families cutting graphite into sticks.
Wrapping them in string. Then sheepskin. Then wood.
The pencil was born. ✏️
In a Cumbrian field. Because a storm uprooted a tree.
There is still a pencil factory in Keswick today. On the same site it has always been.
Did you know that?
These islands have thousands of stories the world has forgotten.
We find them. We tell them.
We put them in front of millions.
You help us make that possible.
Be Part Of Us.
Be Proud Of Us. 🏴🇬🇧
https://t.co/wN9S2gRmFj
Damning from Azeem Ibrahim. Blair's devolution scheme has been the equivalent of a catastrophic defeat in a foreign war:
'Scottish devolution...has actively weakened Scotland and the United Kingdom alike. Scotland today lags behind England and comparable European nations across nearly every devolved area, despite enjoying higher levels of public spending per head than almost any other country in Europe. The ‘political science’ view from Westminster did not predict that devolution would boost separatism, create a culture of unaccountability and birth two decades of gimmick politics that has left the country’s services broken.
(...)
n 1999, Scotland’s GDP per capita was not far behind Ireland’s. Today, Ireland’s has soared to more than double Scotland’s, fuelled by aggressive investment policies and integration with global markets (...)
Comparing Scotland to Norway nowadays comes across as a bad joke. It shows us what might have been. The reality is that Westminster subsidised Edinburgh; and Edinburgh subsidised a politics of short-term giveaways and constitutional theatre. It should hardly be surprising that we’ve created a politics of rent-seeking and unaccountability.'
https://t.co/dJmwQhWh5m
Anonymous
A woman made a full scene about her “severe, life-threatening” gluten allergy. Had me run to the kitchen 3 times.
Sent her salad back because a crouton touched the rim. We sanitized, remade, reassured. We accommodated everything.
An hour later, I ask if anyone wants dessert. She orders the tiramisu.
I froze, "Ma'am, that's entirely sponge cake, it’s full of gluten!"
She waves her hand. “Oh, a little’s fine. I’m just trying to reduce bloating.”
I swear my chef's soul clocked out mid-shift.
At that point, I just smiled and said, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, but since you declared a life-threatening allergy, it's a massive liability for the restaurant to serve you the tiramisu. Your safety is our top priority!'
The look on her face was better than any tip.
In 2008, evolutionary anthropologist Katie Hinde began studying breast milk from rhesus macaque mothers. What started as a routine study turned into a groundbreaking discovery. She found that mothers raising sons produced milk richer in fat and protein, while those raising daughters had different nutrient balances. This led Katie to a radical conclusion: milk is not just nutrition—it’s information.
Her research revealed that milk shapes behavior, not just growth. For instance, first-time mothers produced milk with higher levels of cortisol, influencing their babies to grow faster but also become more anxious. Katie also discovered that milk changes based on the baby’s immune needs. When a baby is sick, the mother’s milk quickly adapts by producing more white blood cells and targeted antibodies.
Katie’s work, which challenged the scientific consensus, was largely ignored. She launched a blog, Mammals Suck Milk, to spark discussions, and her findings, including that every mother’s milk is unique, gained widespread attention. In 2017, she took her research to a TED stage, and in 2020, her work was featured in Netflix’s Babies. Today, as a professor at Arizona State University, Katie continues to revolutionize our understanding of infant development and lactation.
Katie Hinde didn’t just study milk—she uncovered a living, responsive communication system, revealing that nourishment is intelligence. Her discovery shows that sometimes the biggest revolutions begin by listening to what others ignore.
This short film by former Pixar animator Rodrigo Blaas is genuinely disturbing. Alma (2009) delivers more unease in a few minutes than many full-length horror films.
A soprano was singing her 4th encore, "Sempre libera" an opera number that has a tenor part, a young opera student spontaneously joins her in song when he noticed there wasn't anyone else singing it 😭😭
Rest in peace, Patricia Routledge 🙏🏻
In memory of her, I encourage everyone to read these words of hers from February last year.
Whether young or old, you're bound to get something out of it.
*****
"I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.
My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.
At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.
At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.
At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.
At 80, I took up watercolour painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.
I’m writing this to tell you something simple:
Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.
Let these years ahead be your TREASURE YEARS.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.
With love and gentleness,
Patricia Routledge
*****
Once more, rest in peace. 🤍
*One month before her 95th birthday, Patricia Routledge wrote something that still gently echoes:*
**“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**
My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.
At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.
At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.
At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.
At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.
**I’m writing this to tell you something simple:**
**Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.**
Let these years ahead be your *treasure years*.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.
*With love and gentleness,*
— Patricia Routledge
Ella’s latest single has launched overnight on all worldwide music streams .
Here are a few links , please take a listen 🙏 #ellaj
https://t.co/3Q1nVZmpKB
https://t.co/qwXs3sNVJv
https://t.co/dCfkbtkSa6
https://t.co/5v75q4kJpb
Former marine Ken O'Keefe drops a barrage of truth bombs in under two minutes. 🔥
"A tiny group of individuals who are running the world through the control of finance... have literally an infinite supply of money."
"And with that money... they have bought everything and everyone who can be bought."