2950. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 No Stamps For The 2026 Commonwealth Games.

 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, Scotland.

23 July - 2 August 2026 - No stamps.

 It appears that the 2026 Commonwealth Games hosted by Glasgow are to be the first held in the United Kingdom not to be commemorated by Royal Mail with the issue of postage stamps though recently Royal Mail has issued a large number of thematic issues - military aircraft, moths, waterfalls, ducks, castles ete etc without any good reason to do so apart from the possibility that such subjects are deemed to be popular with the public and depicting them might just result in people who do not collect stamps buying them and consequently contribute to RM profits and equally they might just start collecting stamps (faint chance).

  The problem for these Commonwealth Games - the 23rd - is that nobody really wanted to host them because of the expense of it all, as well as nobody really caring about them. The 2026 Games were to have been held in Birmingham but the city brought forward its hosting of the  Games to 2022 at a rather late stage because Durban in South Africa which had been chosen to host the Games withdrew from doing so in March 2017. Birmingham was bankrupted - twice - a year or so after the 2022 Games - though, at the time, the Games were generally enjoyed by the city’s residents. The city’s main inheritance from the Games were bankruptcy, a new sports stadium, an Athletes Village which was not ready in time to host the athletes and still remains largely uninhabited and ‘Ozzy the Bull’, a vast machine in the form of a bull now housed at the city’s New Street station, admired by arrivals at the station and loved by the citizens.

Ozzy the Birmingham Bull

  Birmingham’s hosting of the Games left a void for the hosting of the 2026 Games and this opportunity was generally greeted by the cities of The Commonwealth with a wall of indifference. Eventually the Australian state of Victoria stepped forward into the breech and became the host apparent for 2026 but concerns about the costs led it to withdraw in July 2023, just 15 months after it was awarded the Games. Subsequently, the former Australian host city of Gold Coast in Queensland took on the challenge and then thought better of it and withdrew its offer and eventually the former host of the Games, Glasgow, took on the role of host once more with the Scottish government agreeing to host the Games on 17 September 2024 with financial backing from Commonwealth Games Australia, clearly not leaving much time for preparations for the Games.

  As well as being ignored by Royal Mail, these are the first Games not to be shown free-to-view television in the United Kingdom. Perhaps they will be called the Orphan Games. 

  Regardless, we hope the Glasgow Games are successful. Up to 74 countries and territories are expected to participate with Togo and Gabon being present for the first time.

  As curmudgeonly old Royal Mail will not be releasing postage stamps to commemorate the Games, here’s a set of 4 designs and a miniature sheet containing all 4 designs to make up for this philatelic shunning of the Games. They were created by Gemini AI, the whole process taking about 7 minutes. 

  The six previous Commonwealth Games held in the United Kingdom were all commemorated by the issue of postage stamps - be it the Post Office or Royal Mail -

The 6th British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff (3 stamps),

the 9th British Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh (3 stamps),

the 13th Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh (3 stamps),

the 17th Commonwealth Games, Manchester (4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet) 

the 20th Commonwealth Games, Glasgow (6 stamps) and 

the 22nd Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham (8 stamps).

Finally, here’s some of the teams parading in to the stadium at the 2022 Games. Note that Ozzy The Bull is keeping a close eye on the proceedings -

2952. 🇬🇧 Royal Mail Military Jets Issue Includes ‘Fan Sheet’.

 

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

30 July 2026 - Military jet aircraft. This issue is now shown on the Royal Mail internet site with good quality illustrations - 8 stamps (2 setenant strips of 4) (cost £14.40), 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps commemorating Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine (£7.20), 1 ‘Fan sheet’ costing £8 containing 4 identical stamps and 1 ‘Collectors sheet’ containing 10 stamps, sold for £19.20. Total cost:- £48.80. Designed by Webb & Webb Design Ltd and lithographed by Cartor and perforated 14.5 x 14. Rating:- *.

2951. 🇳🇦 Chameleons Featured On Namibian Miniature Sheet.

 

New issues -

🇳🇦 Nam Post, postal service of Namibia -

8 May 2026 - Chameleons of Namibia - 1 miniature sheet containing 2 different stamps. Designed by Helge Denker & lithographed. Rating - *****.

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

14 October 2026 - pure speculation, but the proposed issue for this date remains “TBA”. Those interested in history will recall that the date is the 960th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings when the last English king of England, Harold II, fought Guillaume le Bâtarde, the Duke of Normandy, for the English crown and was killed, possibly by being shot in the eye with an arrow, at the Battle of Hastings.

  This year, the Bayeux Tapestry, a monumental work of embroidery 70 metres in length and 50cm high  and depicting 58 scenes, produced in England possibly on behalf of the Norman Duke’s wife, Mathilde, in the years after the battle and subsequently taken to Bayeux Cathedral where it was housed for centuries and is now normally housed in a bespoke building, the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, has been brought  back to England for the first time in 900 years and is on display in the British Museum for several months.

  The return of the embroidery to its homeland for several months is an important cultural event for the English and very worthy of a stamp issue. Perhaps therefore the TBA issue of 14 October will feature the Bayeux Tapestry and commemorate its return to England. Unlike the World Cup the Bayeaux Tapestry has finally made it home. Let’s hope the English do not have to wait 900 years for World Cup to arrive back in the Sceptred Isle although, according to the song, it appears to be perpetually “coming home”.

  Scenes from the  Bayeux Tapestry were depicted on the set of 8 stamps (a setenant strip of 6 plus two  singles (6d & 1/3d)) designed by the genius David Gentleman, issued by the British Post Office in 1966 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings:-

  The end of the story is missing on the Bayeux Tapestry and so Guernsey Post released a set of 6 stamps and a very interesting miniature sheet printed on combed cotton inscribed Alderney which depicted likely scenes from the missing ‘final panel’. These had been featured on a real three metre-long embroidered ‘tapestry’ produced in Alderney. These were issued on 28 May 2014 and the collection included a prestige booklet sold for £14.44.

  Guernsey Post also released a set of 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet, again inscribed ‘Alderney’,  designed by Nick Watton on 14 September 2016 to commemorate the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. The front cover of the presentation pack depicted William being crowned on 25 December 2025.

  The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) postal service issued a single stamp depicting the Battle of Hastings in 2010 as part of a set depicting important battles in British history (Diego Garcia is a strategically important US-British base hence military-themed stamps seem appropriate).

  And let us not forget the postal service of France’s single stamp released in 1966 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.