Week in the UK. Good or bad

In the early hours of Saturday, the BBC warned that t ime was running out for people to use any standard non-barcoded stamps as Monday is the last day they can be used to post items . After Monday, customers sending mail with these stamps risk the recipient being given a surcharge of £1.10. However, commemorative and non-barcoded Christmas stamps will still be valid. People can swap their old stamps for barcoded stamps through Royal Mail's Swap Out scheme, where there is no deadline for exchange. Royal Mail said: "A leaflet with a form [for the Swap Out scheme] was delivered to every household recently, but customers can also print out a form from our website; call our Customer Experience team to order one; or pick one up at a local Royal Mail delivery office or Post Office." The deadline for using the old stamps was extended from 31 January as more time was required for users, Royal Mail said. After Monday, Royal Mail says a £1.10 surcharge fee will be applied to ...

On Thursday, Royal Mail’s plan to stop delivering post on Saturdays has been blocked by the government in a blow to the company, which has claimed a six-day service is financially unsustainable. The postal company had requested that the government change the universal service obligation (USO) – a condition of its privatisation in 2013. However, the business department said it had no plans to adjust the requirement to deliver on Saturday as well as the five weekdays, in a response to a report by MPs on the business select committee. MPs would have to vote through any changes to the obligation. Kevin Hollinrake, a minister at the Department for Business and Trade, wrote: “We currently have no plans to change the minimum requirements of the universal postal service as set out in the Postal Services Act 2011 … including six-day letter deliveries.”  The reaction was coherent. "Established in 1516 as a public service Survives 500 years of public ownership Sold off between 2011-...