So I want to get a soldering iron for very occasional and very light soldering duty (first job is putting a new 3.5mm plug on a headphone cable). Happy to pay a few quid more to get something that isn’t utter shit. Any recommendations?

Depends what you mean by cheap. This is brilliant and not exactly expensive: http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-digital-esd/dp/SD01738 Available badged as various names. The variable temperature is very handy for working on things big and small

If that is too much £20 at maplin will get you a basic antex or this is ok: https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-50w-mains-solder-station-n78ar

Maybe doesn’t tick the ‘cheap’ box, but this is what all the cool retro gamer repair guys use:

http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-digital-esd-uk/dp/SD01738

lol jinx.

Cheap kit off eBay has worked fine for me.

£20 for an Antex from Maplin sounds good but there’s about a million options! What sort of wattage is good enough for quick jobs?

Dremel gas from Screwfix.

About £37. Not cheap but works brilliantly.

What sort of wattage is good enough for quick jobs?

That’s the problem. There is no one wattage that is suitable for all. You’ll want quite a small one for a headphone cable but that may be too small for other jobs. If you really want cheap then I’d go for that last one I linked. It’s not super quality but has reasonable variable temperature and will do bigger jobs.

this is the classic i’d say ive had one for years like 20+ still works, to be fair i’m only an occasional solderer though. Main criticism is the cable is stiff and can spring back sometimes

I’ve got this one from amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071XJLGK9/

It’s good enough for me to remove and replace all the LEDs in this:

most importantly it gets really nice and hot, my previous ’60w’ one didn’t get hot enough to melt the factory solder used on that unit

this is the classic

The Antex iron really should be considered a design classic, I’ve got the one I had since I was like 14 and they still look the same today.

Dremel gas from Screwfix

Dross

Had two doa

The remaining 3 also wouldn’t hold gas.

Ended up with a ferm gas one for in car immovable work

And the maplins soldering station for bigger jobs