All the planned walkouts from Royal Mail, rail to the NHS

If you want cards and presents to arrive by Christmas Day, you should post 2nd class items at the latest by December 19, while 1st class should be sent no later than December 21.

Special deliveries and tracked guaranteed items should be sent by December 22. Special deliveries with the company’s “Saturday guarantee” can be sent on December 23.

Ambulance and nurses strikes

On Wednesday, the Unite and GMB unions announced that ambulance service workers had voted for industrial action and possible strikes before Christmas.

It follows Unison, which represents hundreds of thousands of health workers, including ambulance staff as well as porters and cleaners, announcing on Tuesday that 80,000 of its members had backed taking industrial action.

Nurses strikes in December could result in thousands of operations being cancelled. On Dec 15 and 20, up to 100,000 nursing staff will take part in strikes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland next month, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.