2693. 🇬🇧 Monty Python, Mushrooms and Monopoly To Feature On Royal Mail Stamps During 2025. Oh! And Peanuts.

 

2025 New Issue Programmes.

🇬🇧 Royal Mail 

Royal Mail has now released details of the remainder of its 2025 new issue programme -

I take it that the Peanuts issue refers to the American cartoon and not the food. What on Earth is ‘Peanuts’ to do with the Britain and why does it qualify for depiction on a British stamp issue? Note there are now 16 new issues planned. Things are getting worse.

Commonwealth countries and territories which are not yet known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025 - 

Anguilla 

Antigua and Barbuda 

Australia Cocos (Keeling) Islands 

Bahamas 

Barbados 

Belize 

Botswana 

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Brunei Darussalam 

Cameroon 

Cayman Islands 

Cook Islands (including Rarotonga)

Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

Cook Islands (Penrhyn)

Dominica

Falkland Islands 

Gabon 

Ghana

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guyana 

Jamaica 

Kenya

Kingdom of eSwatini 

Lesotho 

Malawi 

Maldives 

Mauritius 

Montserrat 

Mozambique 

Nauru 

Nevis 

New Zealand Ross Dependency 

Nigeria 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn Islands 

Rwanda 

St Helena 

St Kitts or St Kitts Nevis

Saint Lucia

St Vincent and The Grenadines 

Samoa 

Seychelles 

Solomon Islands 

South Africa 

The Gambia

Togo

Tokelau 

Tonga

Tonga Niuafo’ou 

Trinidad and Tobago 

Tristan Da Cunha 

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu 

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia

Therefore, at the end of March, 60 (67.4%) Commonwealth philatelic entities appear to have not issued, or have not had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2025 compared with 76.1% at the end of February 2025 and 63.7% at the end of March 2024.

2692. 🇸🇬 Singapore Features Kebaya Costumes.

 

New issues -

🇸🇬 Singapore Post - 

4 April 2025 - ‘Multinational inscription of Kebaya on UNESCO’ - Kebaya (traditional blouse-dress combination worn by women in Peranakan communities in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia - 4 stamps. Designed by Syed Ismail of Pinch Design Pte Ltd and lithographed by Secura and perforated 13. Rating:- *****.

🇵🇰 Pakistan Post -

23 March 2025 - 130th anniversary of the discovery of X rays - 1 stamp and 1 miniature sheet. Designed by Khalid Nawaz and Rana M Younis and lithographed by National Security Printing Company Karachi and perforated 13. Rating:-  **.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

23 April 2025 - Places to visit in the Bailiwick - 4 stamps. Designed by Caroline Cummins and lithographed. These designs were originally intended to be used for the SEPAC issue due for release on 25 July 2024 but did not appear “due to unforeseen circumstances”. It was originally intended to use the royal cipher on the stamps rather than the cameo of King Charles and, not surprisingly, the face values are now different from those originally intended (65p, £1.20, £2.71 and £4.31 - now 69p, £1.37, £2.82 and £4.63 - a total increase of 62p - what a difference 8 months makes. Rating:- 0.

Originally proposed SEPAC stamps -

2691. 🇮🇳 India Commemorates Mata Karma.

 

New issues -

🇮🇳 India Post -

25 May 2025 - Commemoration of Mata Karma, 1016-1064, devotee of Krishna. According to India Post, Mata Karma’a life “is an exceptional example of devotion, courage and social service”. It is told that she embarked on a journey to Jagannath Puri and arriving at Puri she was asked by the temple attendants to cook khichdi, a traditional dish, which was accepted by Krishna. Designed by Ms Himani and printed by Security Printing Press, Hyderabad. Rating:- ***.

🇸🇸 Postal service of South Sudan -

27 March 2025 - 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union - 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇺🇸 Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation (American producer and seller of philatelic products under contract from various postal services) -

🇦🇬 Products inscribed Antigua and Barbuda -

12 December 2024 - Reptiles of the Caribbean region - 2 miniature sheets - one containing one or two stamps costing a total of $5.55 and the other containing 6 different stamps and sold for $6.65. Illustrations awaited.

🇬🇩 Products inscribed Grenada -

24 March 2025 - ‘Fish and flowers definitive stamps - 7 stamps, with a total price of $189.85. Illustrations awaited.

2690. 🇵🇰 Pakistan Commemorates International Women’s Day.

 

New issues -

🇵🇰 Pakistan Post -

8 March 2025 - International Women’s Day - 5 stamps and I miniature sheet. Lithographed by National Security Printing Company Karachi. Rating:- *****.

🇲🇲 Myanmar Post -

19 March 2025 - Butterflies of Myanmar, 11th issue - 1 stamp. Designed by Ahmonoo using art by Cho San Lin and lithographed by Security Printing Works (Myanmar) and perforated 14. Rating:+ *****.

🇮🇳 India Post -

22 March 2025 - Bicentenary of the 5th Battalion of the Rajput Regiment - 1 stamp. Rating:- ***.

2689. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh Commemorates Uprising Of July 2024.

 

New Issues -

🇧🇩 Bangladesh Post -

30 December 2024 - Festival of Youth - 1 stamp. Lithographed by The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd, Gazipur. Rating:- ***.

9 February 2025 - The July Uprising which led to the overthrow of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina - 1 stamp. Lithographed by Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd, Gazipur. Rating:- *****. A modest stamp commemorating a highly significant historical event.

19 February 2025 - Mother Language Day - 1 stamp. Designed by Md Boni Adam and lithographed by Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd, Gazipur. Perforated 12.5. Rating:- **.

Trump and The Commonwealth.

  There has been a lot of nonsense published in the press in the past day or so about the President of the United States, Trump, expressing the view that he would like his country to become an Associate Member of The Commonwealth. This idea is said to have arisen from the suggestion that the Royal Commonwealth Society has issued a secret invitation for The United States to take on such a role. The Royal Commonwealth Society is not the sort of organisation that can issue invitations to countries to join The Commonwealth; there is no ‘Associate Membership’ status in The Commonwealth: The King is not in a position to invite countries to join The Commonwealth - it is necessary for all 56 Member States together to extend an invitation to join and when the United States President is talking about an important Commonwealth country such as Canada becoming the 51st state of the USA very much against its citizens’ will, then these reports are clearly nothing short of Trumpery moonshine.

  All this fake news, to use Trump’s own expression, comes as the United States Postal Service has announced that it intends to issue a sheetlet of 15 self-adhesive stamps showing battlefields of the rebellion against the British Crown which began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord fought on 19 April 1765, 250 years ago. Trump claims to admire King Charles III rather more than his predecessors seem to have admired King George III.

Post scriptum - a comment from Ian/Norvic which I accidentally deleted - 

2688. 🇲🇹 More Fine Mediterranean Cats From Malta.

 

🇲🇹 MaltaPost -

4 April 2025 - Cats, second issue. Designed by Andrew Micallef and lithographed by Printex and perforated 14. Rating:- *****.

🇨🇦 Commemoration of the late Brian Mulroney, 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 - 1993. - 1 self-adhesive stamp issued in booklets of 10. Designed by Paprika using a photograph taken by Bill McCarthy and lithographed by Colour Innovations. Rating:- ***.

New issue programmes 2025 - 

🇳🇦 Nam Post (postal service of Namibia) -

2687. 🇬🇧🇿🇼 UK Myths And Legends; Zimbabwe Plans Five 2025 Issues Including Cryptostamp.

New Issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

27 March 2025 - Myths and legends - 8 stamps. Designed by Godfrey Design and lithographed Cartor by and perforated 14.5. Total face value £13.20p. Clearer illustrations than those depicted in the previous Blog are now shown.

🇹🇷 Postal service of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus -

20 March 2025 - ‘Productive youth in vocational high schools’, Teknofest. 2 stamps. Digitally printed  by Devlet Basimevi (State Printing Office, Lefkoșa. Rating:- ****.

New issue Programmes for 2025 -

ZimPost (postal service of Zimbabwe) -