3007. 🇨🇦 Canada’s ‘Holiday’ Stamps.

 

New issues -

🇨🇦 Canada Post -

2 November 2026 - ‘Holiday’ stamps & Christmas - 4 self-adhesive stamps each from individual booklets/sheetlets and 1 gummed miniature sheet containing 3 different stamps. The booklets contain 10 x Domestic rate (religious), 10 x Domestic rate (secular), 6 x $1.75 and 6 x $3.65. Designed by Jocelyne Saulnier of Joce Creative from photographs by Jive Photographic Inc featuring a detailed from a mural surrounding the altar of St Peter’s Church, Chéticamp in Nova Scott’s (religious) and Vedran Vaskovic from illustrations by Manantsoa Razafimandimby based on photographs by Don Komarechka (secular designs). Lithographed by Colour Innovations. Rating:- **.

🇮🇲 Isle Of Man Post Office -

2 November 2026 - The partial solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 as viewed from Isle Of Man - 4 stamps and 1 miniature sheet. Designed by EJC Design from photographs by Ed Benson and Sue Jones, Howard Parkinson, the Isleof Man Astronomical Society and Robert Tomlinson and lithographed by bpost and perforated 13.5. Rating:- ***.

3006. 🇬🇮 🇮🇪 Christmas Stamps From Gibraltar And The Irish Republic.

 

New issues -

🇬🇮 Royal Gibraltar Post Office -

2 November 2026 - Christmas ‘Winter wildlife’ - 6 stamps and 1 miniature sheet containing all 6 stamps. Designed by Stephen Perera from illustrations by Terra Nord and lithographed by Cartor. Rating:- ***. The designs are rather twee, me thinks.

🇮🇪 An Post (postal service of the Republic of Ireland) - 

2 November 2026 - Christmas - 6 self-adhesive stamps, 4 of which (domestic rate) are sold in booklets of 13 (cost €20), 1 is sold in booklets of 5 (European rate) and the other in booklets of 5 (worldwide rate). Designed by Sally Caulwell and lithographed by Enschedé. Rating:- **. Moderately twee.

🇸🇬 Singapore Post -

9 October 2026 - World Post Day - 1 machine dispensed stamp in various values. Rating:- ****.

🇬🇬 Guernsey Post -

20 November 2026 - PbilaTaipei World Stamp Championship Exhibition - 1 ‘Cinderella sheet’. This is the third in this series of products which have no postal validity but are usually sold, nevertheless, for £5. This particular item appears to have a value of NT$85 inscribed on it though I do not presently know the significance of that. 

3005. 🇮🇳 India Health Awareness Campaign.

 

New issues -

🇮🇳 India Post -

30 October 2026 - Breast cancer awareness -1 miniature sheet containing 2 different circular stamps. Rating:- ***.

🇫🇯 Fiji Post -

2026 - Stamp booklets  - 3 types each containing blocks of surcharged bird definitives - 

10 x 31c xxx -

10 x13c xxx -

10 x 44c xxx -

Commonwealth countries which are not known to have issued, or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2026 up until the end of October - 

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda 

British Antarctic Territory 

British Indian Ocean Territory 

British Virgin Islands 

Cook Islands including Rarotonga 

Cook Islands Aitutaki 

Cook Islands Penrhyn

Dominica

Gabon

Grenada 

Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique 

Guyana 

Jamaica 

Kingdom of eSwatini 

Lesotho 

Maldives 

Montserrat 

Mozambique 

Nevis 

Niue

Papua New Guinea 

Pitcairn Islands 

Rwanda 

St Kitts/St Kitts Nevis

Saint Lucia 

St Vincent and the Grenadines 

Tokelau 

Tonga

Tonga Niuafo’ou 

Trinidad and Tobago 

Turks and Caicos Islands 

Tuvalu 

Uganda 

United Republic of Tanzania 

Vanuatu 

Zambia

Therefore at the end of October, 37 ( 41.6%) Commonwealth philatelic entities have not issued or had issued on their behalf, any legitimate postage stamps during 2026. This compares with a figure of 44.3% at the end of September 2026 and 42% at the end of October 2025.

3004 . 🇬🇧 Royal Mail Recalls Once More That Christmas Is A Religious Festival.

 

New Issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

3 November 2026 - Christmas, the Christmas story - 5 self-adhesive stamps from sheets (total cost £11.16), 2 self-adhesive stamps from booklets of 8 x 2nd (£7.28) and booklets of 8 x 1st (£14.40),  1 miniature sheet containing all 5 stamps (£11.16) and 1 ‘Collectors sheet’ containing 10 stamps - 2 sets (£23.50). Designed by Hat-trick Design from art by Rebecca Sutherland and printed in gravure by Cartor and perforated 15 x 14.5.Rating:- ***.

  Royal Mail has once more issued stamps emphasising the true underlying nature of Christmas as it was celebrated in Britain for centuries - that of celebration of the birth of Christ. The Christians are said to have chosen this time of the year to commemorate the anniversary to replace festivals held by heathen religions they were supplanting and which were intended to raise their spirits in deepest winter around the winter solstice when things looked particularly bleak - the ancient Romans celebrated the Saturnalia and the Scandinavians celebrated Yule. England also, unlike most other countries, has a state religion - Anglicanism - and it therefore does not seem unreasonable for Royal Mail to emphasise the religious aspects of the Christmas festival even though the majority of the population is no longer Christian let alone Anglican. Perhaps nowadays winter festivals are not even necessary to raise morale - a daily dose of Vitamin D might be just as effective.

  An interesting debate can be held on the subject of Royal Mail’s choice of theme for its Christmas stamps but that can be said about practically every issue it now releases including vastly expensive sets commemorating American films and television programmes, American cartoons and random inconsequential subjects such as ducks, mushrooms  and aging musicians whom will be forgotten in a hundred years time. It must be said that Royal Mail’s Christmas stamps are very similar in design to those of recent years - I find it difficult to identify which year a particular stamp was issued after three or four years of this much of a muchness - it really begs the question of whether or not the release of similar stamps every year is really necessary - why not just reprint the previous year’s issue and save on designer’s fees? Regardless, depicted above are yet another year of Christmas stamps.