November 2026: five Sundays, five Mondays
Dispatch from the last Saturday of November 2026: the month opened on a Sunday and will close on a Monday, and it has been generous with both. Five Sundays, five Mondays, nine weekend days in all, as heavy a November as the decade has managed. Anfield opened the account on Sunday 1 November with Arsenal visiting, kick-off half past four in the afternoon. The Formula 1 circus has since been and gone from Las Vegas. Only the last Monday of business remains, and Las Vegas is about to fill with cloud engineers.
Nine days, honestly counted
Sundays have landed on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th. Mondays follow a day behind: the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. That is nine weekend days from a 30-day month, across ISO weeks 44 to 49, with 21 business days left over. November has rarely given so much away.
The moon filed on schedule. Last quarter fell on Sunday 1 November, the new moon on Monday 9 November and first quarter on Tuesday 17 November. The full moon rose on Tuesday 24 November, on a Champions League night.
The month's big tickets
America voted on Tuesday 3 November, with every House seat and roughly a third of the Senate on the ballot. The close counts continue; the country planned for days of patience, and the planning looks sound.
Grand Theft Auto VI unlocked at midnight on Thursday 19 November, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox only. No computer version at launch, so consoles became the month's scarce currency. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping followed into cinemas on Friday 20 November. Formula 1 then raced the Las Vegas Strip on Saturday 21 November, under lights, finishing near midnight local time.
Earlier, the NFL had played at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday 8 November, Cincinnati against Atlanta in Madrid. England's cricketers opened their white-ball tour of Australia in Perth on Friday 13 November. Three one-day internationals come first, then five Twenty20 matches through Wednesday 2 December. The ATP Finals ran in Turin from Sunday 15 November to Sunday 22 November.
The last Monday
Champions League Matchday 5 wrapped the midweeks on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 November. On Monday 30 November, the final business day, the re:Invent conference opens in Las Vegas. It runs through Friday 4 December, so the working month ends before the calendar does.
A practical note from the desk: print the December grid early. The stationer on our correspondent's corner has sold out of A4 twice this month. December arrives on a Tuesday and keeps moving.
December 2026 arrives on a Tuesday and runs all the way to a fifty-third week. November hands over mid-stride, on its fifth and final Monday.