According to the Government website, malignant hypertension, a sudden rise in your blood pressure also known as accelerated hypertension, could land drivers with a £1,000 fine and prosecution if not reported to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), according to the gov.uk website.

However, car and motorbike drivers have been reassured that they do not need to tell the DVLA if they have ‘generic’ high blood pressure.

You must stop driving if a doctor says you have malignant hypertension (a sudden rise in your blood pressure, also known as accelerated hypertension) and can only resume once a doctor confirms their condition is under control.

The rules differ slightly for bus, coach, or lorry licence holders. They must inform the DVLA if they have high blood pressure, that is consistently above 180/100mmHg.

Similarly, if a doctor diagnoses these drivers with malignant hypertension, the DVLA must be informed.

Individuals can resume driving once a doctor verifies their condition is well-managed.

There are different forms you must fill in on the DVLA website depending on the type of high blood pressure you have.

High blood pressure tends to be symptomless, making it hard to detect without regular monitoring.

The NHS reports this condition is “common” and more prevalent among older adults.

Risk factors include advanced age, family history of hypertension, certain ethnic backgrounds, an unhealthy, high-salt diet, being overweight, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and chronic stress.

According to the latest NHS health survey, in 2024, 30 per cent of adults had been diagnosed with hypertension which is approximately one in three individuals.

Men are statistically more prone to hypertension, with a prevalence of 32 per cent compared to 27 per cent in women.

Untreated hypertension increased with age, with prevalence highest among those aged 75 and over (18 per cent).

For those with low blood pressure, there is no need to report to the DVLA unless the condition presents symptoms such as dizziness or fainting, which could impact driving ability.

A government spokesperson said: “You can be fined up to £1,000 if you do not tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving. You may be prosecuted if you’re involved in an accident as a result.”

Further details on when and how to report health conditions to the DVLA can be found at gov.uk/health-conditions-and-driving.

“At a time when institutions can be seen simply through a social or cultural lens, he understands that the Church’s role goes beyond this. It is not only part of the nation’s heritage, but a living expression of faith, rooted in prayer, compassion and a belief in grace and redemption.”

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli settlers rampaged through multiple Palestinian villages overnight Saturday and into Sunday, smashing cars, setting fires and wounding several men in the latest flare-up of violence in the occupied West Bank.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported attacks in at least six communities on Sunday. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said at least three Palestinians in the village of Jalud suffered head wounds from beatings and were hospitalized after confronting settlers, who were also reported injured.

The violence came as Israel’s government presses ahead with new settlements in the occupied West Bank. Attacks by settlers have intensified alongside a broader surge in violence since the Iran war started.

Israel’s military said it responded to Israeli civilians carrying out “arson against structures and property, as well as engaging in disturbances in the area,” but did not report any arrests or indicate whether investigations were opened.

WAFA reported attacks in the villages of Silat al Dahr and Fandaqumiya, both near Jenin; in Jalud and Salfit, both south of Nablus; and in the agricultural regions Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley. Homes and cars were set ablaze, Palestinians were pepper-sprayed and at least five people were wounded in the overnight assaults, which took place during the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the agency said.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year as of March 15. The Palestinian Authority has also documented a series of arson attacks, including on mosques, across the territory.

The rampage came one day after an 18-year-old settler was killed in a collision with a Palestinian vehicle in an area near two of the villages attacked. Police said they were investigating the settlers’ claims that the collision was deliberate.

When Lizzy Bennet, the witty sister in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813), asks: “What are men to rocks and mountains?” she is thinking about ways of understanding self and world through the notion of the sublime.

The sublime was one of the key 18th-century philosophical ideas of Romanticism, balancing our physical insignificance next to something majestic like a mountain, with our imaginative capacity to conceptualise it. Lizzy is trying to get over her own and her sister Jane’s heartbreak by thinking beyond herself to the wider world of nature around her.

The philosopher Sianne Ngai claims that the notion of the sublime no longer holds any force. Instead, today’s culture replaces the idea with concepts that have a weaker emotional impact on us, such as the “zany”, the “cute” and the “interesting”.

For big hits, social media demands zany personalities and cute images. And to say something is “interesting” might actually indicate that you find the topic boring. In her book Our Aesthetic Categories, Ngai basically argues that 21st-century capitalist society has no time for the ecstatic experience of the sublime.

Although the new BBC TV series The Other Bennet Sister – adapted from Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel – is a development and continuation of Austen’s novel, the programme steers clear of the sublime and the beautiful and focuses especially on the “cute”.

The Other Bennet Sister starts where Pride and Prejudice also begins. The local grand house Netherfield Park is being let at last, causing much excitement over the identity of the new tenant and the potential opportunities for socialising they may provide.

Focusing on Mary Bennet, the mousy pedantic sister who remains unmarried at the end of Austen’s novel, the TV drama quickly dispatches with the plot of Pride and Prejudice in the first two episodes. Mary is left standing with her mother and father as the rest of her sisters get married.

But Mr Bennet (Richard E. Grant) dies and the sisters’ cousin Mr Collins (Ryan Sampson) and his wife descend on Longbourn to claim the Bennet family home as their own. So Mary is sent to London to stay with her aunt and uncle, the kindly Gardiners in Gracechurch Street.

In London, Mary begins to to enjoy herself and have her own adventures, and crucially, find out who she is – if she’s not the witty one (Lizzy), the beautiful one (Jane), the good-humoured one (Kitty), or the lively one (Lydia). In this BBC incarnation, Mary is the cute, endearing one.

A different perspective

The first episode rewrites Austen’s novel from Mary’s perspective, with her cutting a lonely and drab figure next to the pastel couples of Lizzy and Jane, and Kitty and Lydia. Ruth Jones’s Mrs Bennet is transformed from a character beset by nerves to a woman with nerves of steel. She forbids Mary a cute romance with her optician, or from flirting with Mr Collins as the formidable matriarch has set her sights on him marrying Lizzy (who, of course, will not have the pompous bore).

The Other Bennet Sister makes Mary’s sisters seem distant and shallow, and focuses on her struggles with self-esteem in response to their lack of notice. Like Hill, the Bennet servant you can tell likes Mary best, you just want to give her a hug. In a neat twist, Hill is played by Lucy Briers, who played Mary herself in the BBC’s famous 1995 Pride and Prejudice series.

In London, Mary starts to overcome her awkwardness and self-consciousness under the care of the Mr and Mrs Gardiner, played with verve by Richard Coyle and Indira Varma. She nervously begins a romance with Mr Tom Hayward (Dónal Finn) only to discover he is already engaged.

The show hints heavily that this engagement has faded in intensity like Sense and Sensibility’s Edward Ferrars with Lucy Steele, though Amy Baxter, played by Doctor Who’s Varada Sethu, is far nicer than the two-faced Lucy. By the end of the fifth episode, before she is called away to look after her ailing mother, Mary has found herself in a love triangle.

Throughout the series, Mary wonders just who she is. The audience, along with sensitive characters like Mrs Gardiner, already know: she is kind, funny, caring and thoughtful. In today’s parlance, she’s cute.

There is a sublime moment when Tom tries to cheer Mary up from one of her bouts of self-doubt. He arranges for Mr and Mrs Gardiner and Mary to enter a secret garden, where he reads Wordsworth’s poem Composed Upon Westminster Bridge:

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

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A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

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Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Mary is moved to tears and it is clear to the audience, if not Mary or even Tom, that when he uses Wordsworth’s words to describe London, he is also describing Mary. Again, for the viewer, this is cute.

It’s clear The Other Bennet Sister is shaping up to be a classic reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, transforming the overlooked Mary Bennet into something and somebody else: as bright and glittering as the Thames in Wordsworth’s poem.

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The match, which saw Sunderland claim a 90th minute winner over Newcastle United, came after Sunderland’s 1-0 victory at the Stadium of Light earlier this season, adding extra intensity to the long-running rivalry.

Sunderland supporters were marshalled by police officers as Sunderland fans arrive at St James’ Park for the Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

There are plenty of videos all over social media today of fans from the rival sides ‘goading’ one another.

However, police have confirmed that in the main everyone in Newcastle city centre today for the football were co-operative.

However, police did make one arrest ahead of the kick-off.

One arrest has been made following the Tyne-Wear derby today (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

Officers will remain in the city centre to monitor supporter behaviour and ensure public safety in the hours following the derby.

Sunderland supporters were given a hostile reception by Newcastle fans as they arrive at St James’ Park for the Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “We are aware of a number of videos circulating on social media in relation to Newcastle United and Sunderland supporters goading one another.

“In the main, everyone has co-operated and we are able to report that one arrest was made ahead of kick-off. We will continue to have an increased police presence in the city centre.”

Both Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze miss the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, with neither Arsenal star recovering from injury in time to face Manchester City at Wembley.

The full-back and the play-maker were doubts coming into the clash, with Timber missing the win over Bayer Leverkusen in midweek and Eze being forced off during the meeting with the Germans.

The England international scored a brilliant opener against Leverkusen but was taken off after the break due to a knock.

The Dutchman was not involved in the Champions League last 16 match due to an ankle issue.

There was hope that both would be fit enough to feature at Wembley, with Arsenal meeting City at 4.30pm, but neither have recovered in time and will be disappointed to miss out.

Ben White will play at right-back, while the front line sees Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard featuring behind Viktor Gyokeres.

Martin Odegaard has also failed to recover from a knee injury and is not in the squad to take on Manchester City.

Kepa Arrizabalaga starts in goal, with William Saliba alongside Gabriel at the heart of Arteta’s defence and Piero Hincapie at left-back.

The familiar pairing of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi is in midfield at Wembley.

More to follow…

MORE: Why David Raya is not playing for Arsenal against Man City in Carabao Cup final

MORE: Why Marc Guehi is not playing for Man City against Arsenal in Carabao Cup final

MORE: Mikel Arteta suggests Man City clash about more than just Carabao Cup

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been deprived of another centre-back before the League Cup final with Arsenal.

Manchester City suffered an injury blow ahead of the Carabao Cup final with Ruben Dias ruled out of the game with a hamstring injury. The centre-back only lasted 45 minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek and was not named in the squad for Sunday’s game with Arsenal.

That left Pep Guardiola without two of his best centre-backs, given Marc Guehi is ineligible due to an obscure rule that disqualifies him on the basis of not having joined from Crystal Palace before the first leg of City’s semi-final with Newcastle. The January signing will be forced to sit out the game while Antoine Semenyo can play after his move from Bournemouth.

Without Guehi and Dias, Guardiola has plumped for Uzbek international Abdukodir Khusanov and Dutch veteran Nathan Ake in his defence alongside Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly. John Stones could also have featured but is only on the bench, having missed the West Ham game last week with injury before returning to the squad against Real.

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James Trafford starts in goal despite Gianluigi Donnarumma being the City No.1. Guardiola has almost always allowed his No.2 goalkeepers to keep their places in domestic cup competitions, even when the Blues reach finals, with Claudio Bravo, Zack Steffen and Stefan Ortega all featuring at Wembley previously.

Mikel Arteta has adopted the same approach at Arsenal, with Kepa Arrizabalaga starting for them on Sunday ahead of No.1 David Raya. Kepa started against City for Chelsea in the 2019 League Cup final and refused to come off before the penalty shootout and then ended up on the losing side.

Arsenal are favourites for Sunday’s game as they look to clinch the first leg of what could be an historic Quadruple this season, but City are still gunning for three domestic trophies as Guardiola aims to add another trophy to his collection and become the most successful manager in the history of the League Cup.

Student loans now sit at the centre of how higher education is funded in England, shaping how millions of graduates finance their studies. Many students leave university with debts of £50,000 or more and may spend decades repaying them.

The current system rests on the idea that higher education primarily benefits individuals, because going to university means that they will earn more over their lifetime. On this view, graduates should bear a significant share of the cost of their education through loan repayments once they enter the labour market.

Yet universities also generate wider social benefits. They educate professionals in sectors such as healthcare, education and engineering. They produce research that contributes to innovation and public policy. They make a significant contribution to cultural and civic life.

This raises the question of whether higher education should be treated mainly as a private investment for individuals, or as a public good that benefits society as a whole.

Research also shows that higher levels of education are associated with greater civic participation, higher levels of political engagement and improved health. These findings suggest that the benefits of higher education extend beyond individual graduates.

If this is the case, the question of who should finance universities becomes more complex. Should the cost fall mainly on graduates, or should it be shared more broadly through public funding?

The shift in funding models

Over the past two decades, England has gradually moved away from a system in which universities were funded largely through public expenditure. Now, graduate contributions play a much larger role.

Before tuition fees were introduced in 1998, most undergraduate teaching in England was financed primarily through public funding. Fees were later increased significantly in 2012, when the system that now allows universities to charge over £9,000 per year was introduced.

Students do not normally pay these fees upfront. Instead, they take out government-backed loans to cover tuition fees and living costs, which they repay once their earnings exceed a certain threshold. Repayments therefore depend on income rather than the total amount borrowed.

A fair system?

Several features of the current system have raised concerns about fairness.

One issue is the length of the repayment period. Under recent reforms in England, many graduates may repay their student loans for up to 40 years before the debt is written off.

Another concern is the interest charged on student loans. Interest begins accumulating while students are still studying and continues after graduation. It also continues to accumulate during periods when graduates are not making repayments because their income falls below the repayment threshold. This might be during unemployment, part-time work or parental leave.

Graduate earnings also vary widely. Some graduates repay their loans relatively quickly, while others work in sectors such as teaching, social care or the creative industries where salaries tend to be lower.

Lower-earning graduates typically repay more slowly. As a result, interest accumulates for longer. They may therefore accrue more interest overall and repay a larger total amount than higher-earning graduates. Some may also still have a balance outstanding when the loan is written off.

Earnings also differ across gender, ethnicity and social background, reflecting wider labour market inequalities. Because repayments depend on income over time, these differences shape how the costs of higher education are distributed among graduates.

Possible directions for reform

Different proposals for reform emphasise different priorities, shifting the balance between graduate contributions and public funding.

These include lowering interest rates, adjusting repayment thresholds so lower earners repay less, or shortening the repayment period so student debt does not follow graduates for most of their working lives. Some also argue that a fairer system would involve greater public investment in universities, reducing reliance on graduate repayments and spreading costs more widely across society.

These debates also raise a more fundamental question about justice. The issue is not simply how individuals pay for their degrees, but how societies sustain universities that produce knowledge and educate citizens for democratic life. The real question is whether higher education is treated as a private investment or a public good essential to democracy.

If universities are understood mainly as providing a private benefit to individuals, a system based on graduate repayments may appear reasonable. But if higher education is also recognised as contributing to economic development, research, professional training and civic life, the case for sharing its costs across society becomes stronger.

As discussions about student loans continue, the challenge for policymakers is not only to adjust repayment rules but also to consider how funding reflects the wider role of the university. Ultimately, debates about student loans are also debates about how societies choose to support universities and invest in future generations.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been pictured for the first time since his arrest over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The 66-year-old former prince was seen walking his dogs in the grounds around his new home, Marsh Farm, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

He has not been seen since he left Aylsham police station in February, where he attempted to hide from photographers in the back of the car.

The former Duke of York was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office over accusations he had shared confidential information with the convicted paedophile while serving as trade envoy.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor served as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment from 2001 until 2011, when he stepped down amid controversy over his friendship with the disgraced financier.

He remains under police investigation by Thames Valley Police, whose officers are assessing the claims after they emerged in the Epstein files, which were released by the US government.

It was also reported earlier this week that the investigation may be widened to potential corruption offences. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing over his friendship with Epstein.

The former Duke of York was forced to relocate to the King’s estate in Norfolk after public backlash over his rent agreements resulted in him giving up his lease on the Grade II listed mansion Royal Lodge in Windsor.

It emerged he had only paid a peppercorn rent for more than 20 years, having first moved into the property in 2003.

He was arrested at Wood Farm, where he is temporarily living while renovations are underway at Marsh Farm, with the former prince expected to move in the coming days.

Calls have grown from a range of public figures for a wider probe into Andrew’s past dealings with Epstein, while Commonwealth countries such as Canada and New Zealand have called for him to be removed from the line of succession.

Despite being stripped of his royal title last year, the King’s brother is still eighth in line to the throne, and an Act of Parliament would be required to remove him and prevent him from ever becoming king.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government will consider introducing such legislation once police have finished their investigation into the King’s disgraced brother, it has been understood.

Calls for his removal came after Mr Mountbatten-Windsor featured a number of times in the so-called Epstein files, including images of him bent over an unidentified female and lying across the laps of a number of women.

In an email, Epstein appears to introduce the former prince to a woman described as “26, Russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy” who wished to visit him at his royal residence.

Retired civil servants have also claimed he used taxpayers’ money for massages and excessive travel costs during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.

The BBC reported that one ex-civil servant refused to pay to cover the costs of a massage for him, but was overruled by senior staff, telling the broadcaster: “I thought it was wrong… I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway.”

A former Whitehall official, who oversaw finances, separately told the BBC they had “absolutely no doubt” about the authenticity of the claim after having seen similar expenses for his overseas trips.