2876. Commonwealth Day 2026.

 

Commonwealth Day

The annual Commonwealth Day ‘celebrations’ take place this year on Monday 9 March (the event traditionally takes place on the second Monday of March).

Every year there is a new theme - in 2026 it is “Unlocking opportunities together for a prosperous Commonwealth”.  This year finds relative upheaval in The Commonwealth with Mauritius having broken off diplomatic relations with its Indian Ocean neighbour Maldives because the latter will not support the former’s attempt to take the British Indian Ocean Territory off the hands of the United Kingdom together with more than £30 billion. Though the hapless British prime minister, Starmer, has signed a treaty with Mauritius, its journey through the British Parliament has stalled and the corrupt Mauritius government,  badly in need of the British money to balance its budget, is threatening to take the United Kingdom to court over its failure to handover the money and the islands.

  Meanwhile, Starmer finds himself in more trouble because of his initial failure to support Trump in the Middle East War and Britain’s failure to take swift enough measures to help to defend former British protected states and present allies in the Gulf - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait as well as the British Sovereign Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia which has implications for the security of Cyprus. What Trump hasn’t said about Starmer is anybody’s business.

  Elsewhere Pakistan is effectively at war with its neighbour Afghanistan though Guyana is looking safe from invasion by its neighbour Venezuala now that Trump has kidnapped the Venezuelan despot, Maduro, and removed him from office.

Regardless of all this, Happy Commonwealth Day!

New issues -

🇬🇧 Royal Mail -

27 March 2026 - Definitives in new values to cover increased overseas rates - 3 stamps, £3.60 (‘purple heather’), £3.80 (‘aqua green’) and £4.60 (‘sapphic blue’). Code - M26L MAIL. Rating:- ****. These stamps are described and illustrated in the always invaluable online Norvic Stamp Blog.

Meanwhile, if you feel that you have not already spent an adequate amount of money on Royal Mail products, you may wish to consider purchasing the latest little temptations recently added to the Royal Mail internet site. Or you may not.

2845. 🇵🇰 Pakistan Commemorates Relations With Sri Lanka.

 

New issues -

Pakistan Post -

25 December 2025 - 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka - 2 stamps. Designed by Mughiz Khan and lithographed by Pakistan Security Printing Corporation and perforated 13. Rating:- ***.

Trump trumps Maduro - is Guyana now safe?

With the increasing resistance by the people of Iran against the murderous theocracy that rules them, the news that the American president, Trump, has today launched an attack on Venezuela and kidnapped its tyrannical president, Maduro, is sending him to New York and charged him with drug offences, there is a strong suggestion that 2026 is going to be a very unstable year bringing with it dramatic international political changes which may well be reflected by the stamps that appear from various philatelic entities.

  One notable effect of Maduro’s removal from office in Venezuela is that the people of the Commonwealth republic of Guyana, the only Commonwealth country in mainland south America, will be able to sleep a little easier. In Blog 2409 (29 November 2023) I reported that Maduro was planning an impending invasion of Guyana having previously declared a large part of the Commonwealth country to be the eighth state of Venezuela - this was the oil-rich Essequibo region which had long been a bone of contention between Guyana and Venezuela. The threat of invasion came after the Venezuelan dictator had held a referendum in Venezuela to obtain the support of Venezuelan voters for the claims on Guyana territory. In the face of international pressure, Maduro backed down and the invasion never materialised but not before the Venezuelan postal service had released a miniature sheet of 4 stamps which emphasised  Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo.

It is difficult to take seriously the philatelic items released by the USA-based exploitative philatelic agents, the Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation, but having written that, it has to be said that the products which the IGPC recently put on sale, with a stated date of issue of 12 December 2024 and the name of Guyana printed on them, take on a very real relevance to Guyana as Trump, generally loathed almost everywhere, may well have become the saviour of Guyana and hence a figure much to be loved there, by removing Maduro from power in Venezuala.

    It is interesting that many of the modern day dictators and tyrants from the different continents often fail to get themselves depicted on their national postage stamps - it’s the sort of thing you would expect them to do - but Maduro is another one of those tyrants who has failed to feature on a national stamp. It looks like he’s missed the boat now as the US Navy carries him en route to a New York prison cell to await trial for his alleged crimes.

Venezuela’s former tyrant Maduro

2827. 🇼🇸 Samoa Joint Issue With China.

 

New issues -

🇼🇸 Samoa Post -

6 November 2025 - Joint issue with the People’s Republic of China, 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, pigeons. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.

🇨🇦 Canada Post -

13 November 2025 - Hanukkah (Jewish religious festival) - 1 self-adhesive stamp sold in booklets of 6. Designed by Subplot Design Ltd and lithographed by Lowe Martin. Rating:- ****.

🇮🇳 India Post - 

8 November 2025 - My Stamp personalised stamps, 50th anniversary of NHPC Ltd, a governmental power company specialising in hydropower and renewable energy - 1 sheetlet of 12 different stamps with attached labels sold at a premium. 

🇺🇸 Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation (IGPC) -

🇬🇾 Products inscribed Guyana -

12 December 2024 - ‘Prince William’ - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 6 different stamps and the other a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- 0.

12 December 2024 - ‘Prince William and Princess Kate’ - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 5 different stamps and the other a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- 0.

12 December 2025 - Re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States - 2 miniature sheets, 1 containing 6/different stamps and the other a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- 0.

🇬🇾 Guyana Post Office Corporation -

25 July 2025 - Low carbon development strategy - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

35 October 2025 - 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Guyana and tge Dominican Republic - 1 stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇰🇳 Nevis Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications - 

7 November 2024 - Centenarians 2024 - 1 miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps honouring 3 Nevis centenarians. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.

2725.🇮🇳 India New Issue Features Observatory.

 

New issues -

🇮🇳 India Post -

16 May 2025 - 125th anniversary of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory - 1 stamp. Designed by Sh Brahm Prakash and printed by Security Printing Press Hyderabad. Rating:- ***.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Post -

26 June 2025 - Intangible cultural heritage, paper crafting technique - 4 stamps, 2 miniature sheets both containing a single stamp and a ‘minipane’ (sheetlet of 8 stamps - 2 of each value). Designed by Lee Ying-chi and lithographed. Rating:- ***.

🇱🇹 Stamperija -

🇬🇾 Products inscribed Guyana -

2025 - Succession of Pope Leo XIV - 1 sheetlet  containing 12 ‘stamps’ (4 x 3 different designs). This product is offered for sale on the Stamperija internet site but anyone considering spending their money on it should bear in mind that this is an item produced privately by Stamperija on a sheetlet with Guyana personalisable stamps and is unlikely to be recognised by the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) as one of its official products as has happened previously with similar items emanating from Stamperija. Stamperija is not the official philatelic agent for GPOC.As always, with anything emerging from Stamperija, caveat emptor.

2653. 🇺🇸 The Apotheosis Of Trump.

 

New Issues -

🇱🇹 Stamperija (exploitative Lithuanian-based producer and purveyor of philatelic items under contract with the postal services of a number of impoverished African territories) -

🇸🇱 Products inscribed Sierra Leone -

‘2023’ (according to Stamperija internet site) though presumably issued by agency on 21 January 2025 - Inauguration of President Donald Trump, 45th and 47th President of the United States of America - 1 miniature sheet containing 8 different’stamps. Rating:- 0.

  The new US President, Donald Trump, was inaugurated to the Presidency on 20 January 2025 having beaten the incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election held the previous November. In taking office, Trump achieved a number of interesting historical landmarks - he became the oldest president to ever take office in the United States beating his predecessor Joseph Biden by two months or so, was the first convicted felon to take office and with former President Grover Cleveland was only one of two US presidents to have two non-consecutive terms in office.

  Ever a controversial figure his first action was to get rid of hundreds of laws of the previous administration by Presidential decree and to say that the USA would take back control of the Panama Canal (under US control, the Canal Zone had had its own postage stamps so any such action might have philatelic consequences in that respect alone). 

  Trump had had a difficult time legally during his time out of office and Stamperija mocked him by selling sheets of personalised stamps of Guyana noting his arrest and conviction (Guyana is not usually a client of Stamperija - its postal service has sold its philatelic reputation to Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation (IGPC)). Guyana Post Office Corporation posted on its Facebook page confirming that such issues were not official GPOC releases and were illegal.

  With Trump triumphant Stamperija has rapidly jumped on the band wagon to commemorate Trump’s inauguration. Doubtless we will see more such products and especially from IGPC and it is doubtful that the wait for the release of these products will be a long one. Such opportunism, however, is probably something Trump himself would approve of, or even admire, one thinks.

  Another consequence of Trumps’s ascent to power may be that the British Indian Ocean Territory will not cease to exist after Starmer’s new Labour government in the United Kingdom failed to get the Mauritius government to take over the Chagos Islands even though it was also being offered £9 billion to complete the takeover before Trump’s inauguration (it was thought that he was against the deal because of the perceived danger to the large US base on the largest island of the Chagos, Diego Garcia). Now it’s all down to President Trump - will he agree to the transfer of sovereignty or not? If the British government disregarded his views and handed the islands over to Mauritius might he not just order the large US force on the island to take it over and turn it into the American Indian Ocean Territory (mirroring his threat to take over the Canal Zone). 

  With Trump nothing is certain and there are bound to be philatelic consequences of some of his actions. Perhaps we might even see BIOT stamps again one day. Or perhaps not.