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Whitehall Minute — UK and world news

A woman in a burgundy coat and sunglasses holds several paper shopping bags against a pale wall.
ECONOMY

When is Black Friday 2026? Friday 27 November

GOV.UK says sale items carry the same refund rights as full-price ones, and the CMA lists 32 practices that are unfair in all circumstances.

Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire seen across trees and parkland, in a colour photograph from the 1890s labelled Balmoral Castle
CRIME & SAFETY

Police Scotland: ‘active inquiries’ after Epstein Balmoral reports

The force said the inquiries were at “a very early stage” and did not say who is being investigated.

A red Royal Mail post box set into a brick wall
ECONOMY

Royal Mail last posting dates for Christmas 2026

Royal Mail is adding extra deliveries until 8pm and more Sunday processing as demand grows ahead of Christmas.

A white thermostatic valve head on a radiator pipe beside a painted wall
ECONOMY

£100 Household Energy Payment: who gets it and when

The Treasury says the £2.6 billion scheme will reach up to 20 million households in England, with local authorities delivering it from January 2027.

The façade and corner towers of the HM Treasury building in Whitehall, London, under a blue sky
ECONOMY

UK Budget 2026: what was announced for benefits, the State Pension and tax

The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed the government is meeting its stability and investment rules, with a £15 billion buffer against…

An older man has his upper arm cleaned before an injection
HEALTH

Free NHS flu vaccine 2026 in England: who can get it and how to book

Eligible people can book online, in the NHS App, at a pharmacy or through a GP surgery, and the NHS says the vaccine can be given with the COVID-19…

A red pillar box with a cap of snow on top
ECONOMY

Stamp prices 2026: how much a first and second class stamp costs

Royal Mail says first class costs £1.80 and second class 91p, and it aims to launch a stamp discount for low-income customers from April 2027…

Waves breaking over the sea wall at Dawlish on the Devon coast, with spray rising above the railway and seafront houses
ENVIRONMENT

Storm names 2026-27: the full list and which comes next

The list is compiled jointly with Met Éireann and KNMI, and a new one is issued each September.

The curved glass front of BBC Television Centre in west London, with a pedestrian pushing a pushchair past the entrance
ECONOMY

How much is a TV licence in 2026?

The colour licence costs £180 a year after a £5.50 rise in April 2026, and the fee is due to rise with inflation again in April 2027.

A frost-covered pavement and verge on a residential street at sunrise, with parked cars and bare trees
GENERAL

Everything changing in November 2026

Two of the four dated changes fall on the last day of the month, 30 November.

Top stories

A woman in a woolly hat and checked scarf looks away across a windswept hillside under heavy grey cloud
HEALTH

Cold weather can make the heart work harder

Whitehall Minute
A plate piled with roast meat, roast potatoes, sprouts, cauliflower and sausages beside a Christmas cracker and a glass of red wine
HEALTH

A very large meal or too much alcohol can trigger a gout attack

Whitehall Minute
A round windchill calculator card with a red wind sign and a window that shows the wind chill temperature for a chosen air temperature and wind speed
SCIENCE

Why wind makes it feel colder than the air temperature

Whitehall Minute
The town hall of Trappes, France, a brick-red and silver building with the words Ville de Trappes, Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité on its facade
CRIME & SAFETY

Macron: One killed in ‘racist terrorist attack’ in France

Whitehall Minute
Platform and track at Ardrossan Harbour railway station in North Ayrshire, Scotland, with moored boats beyond the fence
ENVIRONMENT

Storm Boelo: Scottish garden curator named as man killed by falling tree

Whitehall Minute
Artist’s concept of the Swift spacecraft in space, with a bright burst of light behind it
SCIENCE & TECH

NASA’s Swift observatory ends its science mission

Whitehall Minute
A Bank of England £50 polymer banknote showing a portrait of Alan Turing, lying face up under glass
ECONOMY

State Pension payment dates November 2026: your payday

Whitehall Minute
A laboratory worker in safety glasses and blue gloves holds up a tube of blood to examine it
HEALTH

PSA test: the limits, and who can ask for one

Whitehall Minute

Most read

  1. Christmas 2026 benefit payment dates: when Universal Credit, PIP and State Pension are paid
  2. Child Benefit payment dates 2026: when it is paid and which dates move
  3. Carer’s Allowance payment dates 2026: £86.45 a week, paid weekly or every 4 weeks
  4. Attendance Allowance payment dates: how the four-week cycle works
  5. UK bank holidays 2027: every date, by nation
  6. Christmas Bonus 2026: who gets the £10 payment

Health

More in Health →
A person presses the thumb of one hand into the knuckles of the other hand to ease pain
HEALTH

Do joints really ache more in cold weather?

Whitehall Minute
A line drawing of a child’s head and chest with the lungs shaded red and an enlarged circle showing an airway
HEALTH

Bronchiolitis in babies: what the signs look like

Whitehall Minute
An illustration comparing healthy sinuses with inflamed sinuses, with the frontal, ethmoid and maxillary sinuses labelled
HEALTH

Sinusitis: how long it usually lasts

Whitehall Minute
Close-up of a blue-grey human eye with lashes and eyelid
HEALTH

Central heating can make dry eyes worse

Whitehall Minute
Pope Leo XIV stands at the altar during his inauguration Mass in St Peter’s Square in May 2025
HEALTH

Pope Leo needs no further treatment after lung cancer surgery

Whitehall Minute
A white thermostatic valve fitted to a radiator beside a wall
HEALTH

Is 18°C warm enough indoors in winter?

Whitehall Minute
A doctor shines a small torch into a patient’s open mouth to examine the throat
HEALTH

Sore throats normally clear up within a week without antibiotics

Whitehall Minute
A small pile of white vitamin D tablets on a pale surface
HEALTH

Vitamin D in winter: the NHS advice and the studies

Whitehall Minute

Economy

More in Economy →
An older couple with rucksacks lean on a glass rail overlooking a seaside amusement park in Southend-on-Sea, Essex
ECONOMY

State Pension age is rising to 67: when you reach it

Whitehall Minute
The Bank of England building on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, with a red double-decker bus and a car in the road.
ECONOMY

When is the next Bank Rate decision? Thursday 5 November 2026

Whitehall Minute
A gas hob burner lit with a ring of small blue flames.
ECONOMY

Next energy price cap due by Wednesday 25 November

Whitehall Minute
Two older people sit side by side on a park bench, seen from behind, while children play on the grass beyond
ECONOMY

UK government asks why people defer State Pension

Whitehall Minute
A woman with her back to the camera ticks one figure and crosses out five others on a whiteboard
ECONOMY

UK unemployment falls to 4.7% as job vacancies drop

Whitehall Minute
The entrance to a car park in Newquay, Cornwall, with a yellow height barrier and a blue parking sign
ECONOMY

Private parking: Great Britain drivers to get 10 minutes to leave

Whitehall Minute
An older man and woman laughing together at home, each holding an open book
ECONOMY

How much is the UK State Pension? Full new rate is £241.30 a week

Whitehall Minute
Cars and vans parked on an open gravel car park in Leeds, with brick buildings and a cloudy sky behind
ECONOMY

Car tax: £200 a year for cars registered since April 2017

Whitehall Minute

Science & Tech

More in Science & Tech →
A glacier on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, with curved flow lines in the ice and brown mountains behind
SCIENCE & TECH

Arctic ice cap suggests warming halted the next ice age

Whitehall Minute
Orbiter mosaic of the Valles Marineris canyon system running across the orange Martian surface, with craters on either side.
SCIENCE & TECH

Marsquake beneath Valles Marineris suggests canyon is still active

Whitehall Minute
A corridor between two rows of closed server racks in a data centre
SCIENCE & TECH

Some websites go offline over critical PHP flaws found using AI

Whitehall Minute
Workers, most in white protective suits, push the foil-wrapped Roman Wide Field Instrument towards a large testing chamber
SCIENCE & TECH

Roman telescope’s main instrument nearly 30% better than predicted

Whitehall Minute
A bee on a cluster of ivy flowers, with green leaves blurred behind it
SCIENCE & TECH

Honeybees chase wild pollinators off flowers around Cambridge

Whitehall Minute
Illustration of rocky debris spiralling towards a bright white dwarf star in space
SCIENCE & TECH

White dwarf is first known green star, astronomers say

Whitehall Minute
A NASA visualisation of Earth in black sky above the cratered horizon of the Moon’s south pole
SCIENCE & TECH

NASA’s Moon battery survives minus 170C but needs a heater

Whitehall Minute
A Neanderthal skull and lower jaw on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin
SCIENCE & TECH

Neanderthal shoulder blade may show earliest known wooden-spear violence

Whitehall Minute

Politics

More in Politics →
A battery-powered LED lantern glowing against a dark window
POLITICS

UK households encouraged to keep three days of supplies

Whitehall Minute
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaking at a lectern in front of a blue stage backdrop
POLITICS

UK threatens to block all visas for Eritreans

Whitehall Minute
Thames House, the London headquarters of MI5, seen from the street through a wide-angle lens
POLITICS

MI5 chief: Brexit result ‘not in dispute’ after Burnham’s Russia comments

Whitehall Minute
Two armed police officers standing guard at a doorway of the Palace of Westminster
POLITICS

Police support expanded to former MPs, peers and spokespeople

Whitehall Minute
Archive photograph from 2015 of the Trypilska thermal power plant in the Kyiv region of Ukraine, with two tall chimneys and an electrical substation
POLITICS

Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’: Kyiv backs it if Moscow does, Russia silent

Whitehall Minute
The black front door of 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence in London
POLITICS

Burnham: ‘Clear answer’ that Russia interfered in Brexit vote

Whitehall Minute
Official portrait of Wes Streeting in a blue suit and red tie, standing beside a Union Jack flag
POLITICS

Streeting: UK does not support Trump’s Russia diesel deal

Whitehall Minute
A polling station sign on green railings outside a community building during the 2024 local elections
POLITICS

Labour holds Starmer’s old seat, with Polanski’s Greens second

Whitehall Minute

Crime & Safety

More in Crime & Safety →
A smartphone screen showing the time and status icons
CRIME & SAFETY

Suspicious text message? Forward it to 7726 for free

Whitehall Minute
A tiger lying on grass in a zoo enclosure (file image, not taken at Yorkshire Wildlife Park)
CRIME & SAFETY

Yorkshire Wildlife Park: tiger will not be put down after fatal attack

Whitehall Minute
A tiger in profile, black-and-white file image, not taken at Yorkshire Wildlife Park
CRIME & SAFETY

Man dies after tiger attack at Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Whitehall Minute
The rotating New Scotland Yard sign outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters in London
CRIME & SAFETY

Met’s volunteer police chief dismissed over images on work phone

Whitehall Minute
The entrance to the Magistrates Courts building in Bishopsgate, Norwich
CRIME & SAFETY

Man charged with murder of Norfolk GP Dr Hannah Terry

Whitehall Minute
A Sussex Police Volvo patrol car parked on a grass verge
CRIME & SAFETY

Two Sussex officers sacked for excessive force on care home resident, 92

Whitehall Minute
A synagogue in Greater Manchester with a Star of David on its glass frontage, seen over a hedge
CRIME & SAFETY

Two Iranian men charged over alleged Manchester Jewish community plot

Whitehall Minute
The entrance of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, with the royal coat of arms above the glass doors
CRIME & SAFETY

Widdecombe murder accused charged with preparing terrorist acts, including against Farage

Whitehall Minute