Author: Blake Foster

Many might be wondering if you can still use them to post your Christmas letters or parcels at the Post Office this December. It comes as in April 2024, Royal Mail introduced stamps with the portrait of King Charles III instead of the late Queen. With this in mind, let’s find out if you can still use first or second-class stamps with the Queen’s head on. You should order your Christmas stamps before it’s too late! https://t.co/9USTntnfMxAdd some festive fun to your cards this #Christmas#Christmas2025#ChristmasStamps pic.twitter.com/CUsEvZ8bSk — Royal Mail (@RoyalMail) December 10, 2025 Are barcoded stamps with Queen’s head still valid…

This evening, Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon, as well as Karen Carney and Carlos Gu, both danced a Waltz as they gave their all to claim a place in next week’s final. Karen danced to One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston for her first dance of the night, while Balvinder performed to At This Moment by Michael Bublé for her second routine. But viewers have taken to social media to say the judges including Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke “overmarked” Karen compared to Balvinder who “was better”, when they both danced the same…

Tonight (December 13), it was Karen Carney and Carlos Gu who topped the Week 12 leaderboard with a combined score of 78. However, at the bottom was Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon who scored 70. During the semi-final, the celebrities and their professional dance partners performed two dances each, in the hopes of impressing head judge Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood. Strictly Come Dancing 2025 scores leaderboard for Week 12 semi-final After double the amount of usual routines were completed, here’s what the leaderboard looks like ahead of the next week’s final: Amber Davies…

Moments after Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon opened Week 12 dancing a Salsa to a medley of Rhythm Is Gonna Get You / Get on Your Feet by Gloria Estefan, eagle-eyed viewers realised professional dancer Gorka Marquez was in the Claudatorium with the rest of the 2025 cast. Although Gorka has taken part in some pre-recorded professional dances throughout the latest series, the 35-year-old wasn’t competing this year and hadn’t been present during the live shows until tonight. Instead, he had been appearing as a judge on the Spanish version of Strictly known as ‘Bailando Con Las Estrellas’. Nice of…

Running from December 6, 2025 to January 4, 2026, the show stars Samantha Womack as The Enchantress, Su Pollard as Mrs Potty, Sheri Lineham as Belle, Jamie Leahey as Silly Billy and Ben Stock as Dame Betty Bouffant. From the moment the curtain rose, the set and costume design created a bright and glittering world, transporting the audience to the fictional village of “Bromley” and the grand “Bromley Castle”. The set and costume design created a bright and glittering world. (Image: Ryan Dinham) The technicolored village scenes, enchanted woods and the Beast’s lavish palace truly brought the magic of pantomime…

Environmental health officers from Croydon have been busy this fortnight visiting businesses across the area to see if they are meeting hygiene requirements. Based on guidelines set by the Food Standards Agency, inspectors look to see how clean the facilities are; what food safety management procedures are in place and how hygienic food handling is. Ratings are then dished out from five to zero — with the higher score the better the result. Five — Very Good Bella Italia/Bird Box/Stacks-Burgers/Super Nonna at 3 Hesterman Way, rated 5. Dem Cafe Bar at 19 Central Hill, Upper Norwood, rated 5. His Grace…

Located on Drury Lane, just a stone’s throw from the Gillian Lynne Theatre, this unique bar transports you back to the 90s when VHS tapes weren’t seen as “retro” and the Spice Girls were all the rage. this unique bar transports you back to the 90s. (Image: Emily Davison) The bar is located underneath a mock-up VHS shop, rather like the Blockbusters we visited as kids, where you are taken behind the door of a Pepsi drinks machine and into a time machine transporting you into a 90s house. Think cosy chairs, 90s pop star posters and games, and all…

The company, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc, shared a photo on social media of one of its self-driving Jaguar I-Pace cars as it drives past the iconic Abbey Road zebra crossing. It said: “The Waymo Driver has landed in London! “We’re now driving in London as we prepare to bring the safety, reliability and magic of our autonomous ride-hail service to the city next year.” The company says its software, termed the ‘Waymo Driver’, “never gets drunk, tired, or distracted.” The cars use a combination of cameras, radar sensors, and lidar sensors – a 3D scanning technology…

Rightmove has released its annual list of the happiest places to live in the UK, based on thousands of responses from residents across Great Britain. The survey looks beyond bricks and mortar, asking people how they feel about their area, their community, and how close they are to the things that matter most in daily life. This year, Skipton in North Yorkshire has been crowned the happiest place to live in 2025. Richmond-upon-Thames came second overall, followed by Camden in third place. Closer to home, Southwark has been rated the happiest borough in south-east London. It ranks fifth within London…

More than 400 residents were forced to leave their flats at The Filigree in Lewisham Town Centre after a major leak caused a water and power outage for some of the homes. The incident, which happened in February, was caused by a burst mains water pipe and ended up flooding the energy centre’s basement which is used to power three buildings on site. The residents, all of whom are private tenants, were told they could not return to their flats because it was unsafe to do so. The residents were supported in temporary accommodation by their landlord, Get Living while…