The lure of eccentric sports

2 May 2011 Last updated at 05:31 By Jenny Sims BBC News Magazine Every year during bank holidays, the UK hosts an array of outlandish sporting events such as bog-snorkelling, shin-kicking and cheese-rolling. Why are these odd activities so enduring?

There are two sporting Britains. In the first, hundreds of thousands troop to stadia each week to watch football, rugby or other popular, mainstream games.

In the second, participants enjoy such activities as pea-shooting, wife-carrying and black-pudding throwing.

Eccentric they might be. Entirely serious they are not.

But eating nettles, pulling silly faces, wrestling with one's toes and collecting worms all form part of a less-discussed side of the nation's competitive culture.

What's more, these bizarre traditions are not as marginal as the layman might think, drawing diverse crowds to remote parts of the country.

The UK hosts at least 20 outlandish sporting events which draw enthusiasts and amateurs from all over the world.

Bog-snorkelling entices participants from as far afield as Australia, others give shin-kicking a go and the practice of chasing Double Gloucester cheese wheels down hills is long-established.

Some of these extraordinary sports can be traced back as far as the 13th Century.

Continue reading the main story

The water comprises of ancient rotted vegetation swilling in black acidic water”

End Quote Kez Mercel and Tigger Webb Bog-Snorkellers Chipping Campden is one such host of unusual historical games. The Cotswold Olimpicks are held during spring bank each year where attendances have been over 5,000.

Eccentrics and novices flock to Dover's Hill, keen to have some fun. And occasionally get hurt.

Competitors can participate in shin-kicking, which is centuries old. It sounds painful but a bit of straw padding can offer protection.

Rules state one must hold onto the opponent and kick their shins until they fall to the floor, under the watchful eye of the stickler, or referee.

Clive Thompson, vice-chairman of the Games, believes the unique traditional 17th Century roots are the attraction.

Thankfully, nowadays the dress code no longer includes iron-tipped boots. Broken legs used to be the norm.

Getting injured in the name of fun is all too familiar for those who each year take to Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire to chase a wheel of cheese.

Every spring bank holiday, up to its cancellation in 2010 and this year, about 200 people would climb the notoriously steep hill, almost vertical in places, to take part in this two-centuries-old tradition.

Continue reading the main story Nettle-eatingBlack pudding-throwingPlank-walkingPea-shootingWoolsack-racingWorm-charmingEgg-throwingMud-racingLawn-mower racingCoal-carryingSnail-racing

Source: Benedict le Vay, author of Eccentric Britain

After a head start for the cheese, competitors would run down the hill trying to catch it, inevitably tumbling to the bottom.

In 1997, 33 cheese-rollers were treated for everything from splinters to broken bones. In 2005, some races were delayed due to the lack of ambulances - because they were all already at A&E with other competitors.

Sarrah Macey of the Gloucester Folk Museum has been a spectator. "Half of me was really scared, shielding my eyes from the injuries, the other half was excitedly egging-on the leader to catch the cheese," she recalls.

Some keep their bones intact and, instead, get down and dirty.

This August bank holiday, many people donning goggles, a snorkel and flippers, will immerse themselves in sludgy, peaty water. Out of choice.

More than 200 competitors will travel to the World Bog Snorkelling Championships, which date back to 1985, to swim the 60-yard peat bog in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales.

Conventional swimming strokes are not allowed.

Serial bog-snorkellers Kez Mercel and Tigger Webb fly from Australia every year to join in the fun. "The water comprises of ancient rotted vegetation swilling in black acidic water," say the pair, enticingly.

But the bog must have something endearing about it.

"We have the world's best beaches on the Gold Coast; however, we go half-way around the world to swim in a bog. That's how good it is," they add.

Continue reading the main story

It doesn't matter what we're doing or why, people get carried away in the enjoyment, and return again and again, daft or not”

End Quote Benedict le Vay Author of Eccentric Britain Despite dreadful weather, last year's event drew over 1,000 attendees.

Those steering clear of mud could head to the home of extraordinary sports, the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria.

Events include gurning, speed pipe smoking and greasy pole climbing.

Gurning, the act of grotesquely contorting one's face, attracts up to 100 competitors a year and features in the Guinness World Records thanks to Tommy Mattinson who has won the championship title 11 times.

Another long-standing event even reportedly helped to inspire the world's most famous sporting competition.

Much Wenlock in Shropshire has Olympic history running through its veins. Ask the majority of people when and where the modern Olympics began, and they would say Athens, 1896. But to some sport historians, it really began there in 1850.

The Much Wenlock Olympics now run every summer and this year should attract not quite the 10,000 competitors joining the London 2012 line-up, but more like 1,200. It includes typical Olympic-style events.

In the early Wenlock Olympian Games, one event had old women race in order to win a pound of tea. That's mild compared with the other bizarre sports of today.

These are a mere handful from a plethora of similar events staged in Britain each year, and they are somehow surviving.

Macey believes it's down to tradition, and that these sports are a key part of the British identity.

"Many visitors to Gloucestershire solely come to experience the cheese-rolling, shin-kicking or the bog-snorkelling because that's what they think of as quintessentially British."

Egremont Crab Fair hosts the Gurning World Championships every year

Benedict le Vay, author of Eccentric Britain, agrees.

"It's part of British eccentricity. We get wonderful humour, off-the-wall explorers, wacky inventors and bonkers aristocrats out of the same tin, and we have a heck of a lot of fun," he says.

He believes in Britain, often if you try something twice and enjoy it, it becomes a tradition. "People are wedded to tradition and will always find a way. World War II didn't even stop Gloucester townsfolk from cheese-rolling, who [with] rationing, used a wooden model cheese instead.

"It doesn't matter what we're doing or why, people get carried away in the enjoyment, and return again and again, daft or not," he adds.

Despite being banned, in 2010 100 people were still cheese-rolling down Cooper's Hill in an unauthorised event.

Macey believes there is a future for these quirky games thanks to loyal cult followers and promotion through travel guides.

Le Vay agrees. New sports are invented all the time. Many are the result of a conversation in the pub, as was the case with the World Stinging Nettle Eating Championships.

"The best thing about these sports is there's a bit of risk, and they don't require skill," Macey says. "It's often about luck and every competitor feels the thrill of the possibility of holding that prize cheese at the bottom of the hill. It's a chance for people to show courage and be a winner".

UK lags in children's well-being

3 May 2011 Last updated at 13:45 By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent Sweden is the best country in the world for children's well-being, according to Save the Children The UK is in the bottom half of an international league table of developed countries for "well-being" in childhood.

The rankings from Save the Children put Sweden in first place - with the UK in 23rd place out of 43 countries.

The report highlights the UK's relatively low rate of enrolment in education before school age.

A spokesman for England's education department, said Sure Start services would be "targeted at the poorest".

The report places Italy and Japan in joint second place, with the UK behind countries including France, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia.

Worst place

There are also rankings for developing countries - with the overall worst place for childhood identified as Somalia.

The rankings for children's well-being are based on factors including enrolment in pre-school and secondary level education, and levels of infant mortality.

In terms of pre-primary education, the charity says the UK has a lower level of enrolment than many other developed countries - which it describes as a "national embarrassment".

"We can't be complacent about the state of early schooling for children in this country. If we are to catch up with our European neighbours, we have to take urgent steps to remedy this," said Save the Children's chief executive, Justin Forsyth.

"In particular, the government has to reverse the cuts to support for childcare it is imposing on poorest families," he said.

In response, a Department for Education spokesman said: "Tackling disadvantage and raising the life chances of the poorest children is critical to narrowing the gap and giving every child a fair start in life.

"We've increased the free entitlement to 15 hours per week of early years provision for all three and four-year-olds from last September - and are now extending it to all poor two-year-olds.

"We are also retaining Sure Start as a universal service for all - but want it much better targeted at the poorest families which need the most help."

The United States lags behind the UK in 34th place - with a considerably worse infant mortality rate than many countries in western and central Europe.

Mothers' index

There are also tables showing the relative best and worst places to be a mother.

The highest ranked place in this Mothers' Index is Norway, followed by Australia and Iceland. The UK performs more strongly in this table, being ranked in 13th place.

Afghanistan is in the lowest place for the Mothers' Index. While a typical Norwegian mother might expect to live to 83 and to have 18 years of education, a typical mother in Afghanistan will live to 45 and spend less than five years in education.

The United States also does poorly in the Mothers' Index.

The report says that this reflects that the US has the worst rate in the developed world for the proportion of women dying in childbirth or from complications in pregnancy.

It says that a woman in the US is seven times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related illness than in Italy or Ireland.

Children in the US are also twice as likely to die before the age of five than children in countries such as Finland, Greece, Slovenia or Singapore.

The report also identifies the US as having the "least generous" maternity leave arrangements among wealthier countries.

Looking at the gap between the top-ranking western European countries and those at the bottom, such as in Afghanistan and countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the report says: "Statistics are far more than numbers.

"It is the human despair and lost opportunities behind these numbers that call for changes to ensure that mothers everywhere have the basic tools they need to break the cycle of poverty and improve the quality of life for themselves, their children, and for generations to come."

Sugar set for Apprentice shake-up

3 May 2011 Last updated at 17:42 By Fiona Bailey Entertainment reporter, BBC News The latest batch of hopefuls who are aiming to impress Lord Sugar Lord Alan Sugar returns for the seventh series of The Apprentice next week, which will be a departure from previous outings.

The entrepreneur's berating bark and cutting quips are also back, along with 16 more candidates who are all hoping to impress the 64-year-old.

This year, more is at stake than before.

"It's no longer a job, it's now a partnership in a business of their own choice," Lord Sugar explains.

The entrepreneur, a screen star thanks to the show, has promised a cash injection of £250,000 into the winning candidate's chosen business, instead of a role at one of his companies.

'Moaning culture'

Lord Sugar says he wanted to shake up the format to show viewers at home that it is "easy" to start a business.

"We've got to stop all this moaning about banks not lending money," he explains.

"I wanted to show the general public that you can start businesses from scratch. And this moaning culture that I refer to is something that needs to be disbanded."

For someone who began his career selling car aerials out the back of a van he bought for just £50, making a profit with little capital is something that he finds very easy.

"That's the message really, that on a Monday morning you go out with £250 and you can come back with £700," says the business mogul.

Now, more than 40 years on, he has an estimated wealth of some £730 million and was ranked 85th in the Sunday Times Rich List last year.

And he is keen to give someone else that invaluable kick start.

However, the business guru has already warned the candidates that he plans to take a back seat in the winning venture.

"Don't expect me to be doing all the work because I'm not looking for a sleeping partner," he says in the first episode.

"I'm not Saint Alan, the patron saint of bloody losers - you can look at it as a bit of an uncivil partnership, so to speak."

'Limp handshake'

This year the list of candidates are the usual mix of overly confident and highly ambitious people.

They include a former estate agent, an accountant and an inventor, who created the world's first ever curved nail file.

Melody Hossaini, 26, speaks five languages and claims she has worked with Al Gore and Dalai Lama.

Introducing herself to the audience in the first show, she says: "Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon."

Lord Sugar will be assisted by Nick Hewer (l) and Karren Brady (second right)

Edna Agbarha, a business psychologist, believes "a limp handshake is unforgivable" and Vincent Disneur claims his "very good looks" make him stand out.

But Lord Sugar does not find the candidates' over-zealous attitude to business off-putting.

"They're very opinionated, as you know, but I was like that when I was younger," he smiles.

But wannabe TV presenters need not apply for the show, as Lord Sugar readily admits he has felt let down by some former contestants.

"In the seven years that I've been doing this, I've had people - whose names I won't mention - who have sworn on a stack of bibles that they are here for the job.

"But TV is a powerful instrument and they get a taste for it. The bottom line is that some slip through the net eventually, but they haven't slipped through the net as far as the winners are concerned."

Karren Brady and Nick Hewer join Lord Sugar again this year to oversee the candidates and watch how they tackle each task.

Brady, who replaced Margaret Mountford in 2009, says this year there is "even more determination" among the contestants.

And Hewer, whose sour facial expressions have become as important as the boardroom showdown, adds: "They are even more deadly serious - because this is a huge prize, when it's almost impossible to raise capital to start a business, here is a God send.

"It's a life changing experience and I think they recognise that."

The Apprentice returns on 10 May at 2100 BST on BBC One

UK sees warmest April on record

3 May 2011 Last updated at 17:09 Many people took to the beaches during the warm Easter weather Last month was the UK's warmest April on record, the Met Office has said.

The records, which go back more than 100 years, show much of the UK experienced temperatures 3 to 5C warmer than is normal for April.

It was also the 11th driest month, with on average half the usual rainfall.

But there was also great variation in the amount of rain. Parts of north-west Scotland saw about 110% of normal April rainfall, while parts of south-east England saw less than 10% of normal.

The UK average temperature was 10.7C, exceeding the previous warmest April on record of 10.2C in 2007.

Following a drier-than-average winter, the dry April followed a dry March which saw less than half of the normal rainfall falling across the UK.

High pressure

A BBC Weather Centre spokesman said: "The UK-wide records began in 1910, but the central England temperature series goes back to 1659, making it the warmest April here for over 350 years."

He added: "The reason for the warm spring sunshine has been the persistence of high pressure systems dominating the weather pattern.

"These highs have been anchored across, or just to the east, of the UK. As a result, southeasterly winds have brought the warm air up from the near continent and at times from as far away as the Sahara.

"High pressure acts like a block to the weather pattern. It prevents the more typical westerly winds coming in from the Atlantic Ocean and the associated rain bearing weather fronts."

VIDEO: 'Long way to go' for Tomlinson family

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

Newspaper review

3 May 2011 Last updated at 06:15 News of Osama Bin Laden's death is on the front of every newspaper - and takes up many inside pages too.

The headline in the The Times, which has 23 pages of coverage, is a quote from President Obama: "Justice is done".

In its leader, the paper says the death of Bin Laden brings relief to the families of his victims, bolsters US morale and hastens al-Qaeda's decline.

According to the Daily Mail, "humanity is rid of the most ruthless terrorist of our time".

Pakistan's Aldershot The Guardian wonders how Bin Laden remained undetected

In the Guardian's words, a terrible life that brought misery to thousands is over. But the paper asks "how could he hide for so long?

The US is now pressing Pakistan for an explanation, the Guardian reports..

It adds few suspected Bin Laden would be found in tranquil Abbottabad.

Reporting from the town, Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph says instead of going down in the Afghan mountains or a hideout, Bin Laden met his death in Pakistan's answer to Aldershot.

'Evil master'

The Daily Telegraph also joins the Daily Express and Daily Mirror in focusing on the claim Bin Laden used one of his wives as a human shield.

The headline in the Daily Express says he was a "coward to the end".

The Mirror also joins the Daily Mail in covering reports that president Obama viewed the operation on a live video link.

The Express is among the papers to report the raid in detail

In its editorial, the Mirror says for many Bin Laden's death "will mean justice has finally been done" but the "terror war outlives its evil master".

Under the headline "Bin Bagged", the Sun says the "world's most evil man" has been consigned to history.

The Independent says a decade of running and hiding has ended with a bullet to the head and "it feels like the closing of a traumatic chapter".

The Financial Times reckons the death of the al-Qaeda leader has ended a long national disgrace for Americans.

In a moment of national release, they can put aside fear of decline and partisan squabbles, it says.

Sigh..... I uderstand that I don't pay for any...

Redesigns happen, but the good thing about the old Google news is that it gave the top few stories in a section and if you wanted more you could click through.  All the center column is now is a long list.  That means the only useful part is the right column - which is cluttered before any categories are added.
This new formatting is incredibly atrocious—Google needs to learn to not try to fix what isn't broken. If they think that the new formatting is an improvement of any kind, they couldn't be more wrong. It looks like they simply removed any formatting that was there in the first place and didn't fix it....Bring back the old layout: one of the reasons I gravitated to Google News was because it had several top stories and then had more articles in various columns/sections as you scrolled down. I could get a decent sampling of all the news this way.

The new set up is counter-intuitive and does not allow me to simply peruse through headlines as easily as before. I would be willing to try it out, if it made more sense or made things easier, but overall, the inability to change it back makes me more irritated than anything else.

Some of the people in this post were asking for a comparison screen shotSee screen shot comparison here: New news is bad news.  Not coming back.It SUCKS! Please put it back, or give me an option to display it the old way. Who needs a news page with nothing but headlines? I like scanning the tidbits of the story before I waste time clicking through. Also, I was enjoying the quick-flip at the bottom. I didn't realize Google used production pages for experiments, but it's enough to make me find another source. Put it back, or loose a user! I hate it. I used to go more than once per hour to google news, but now I have looked into other news services. Still I haven't found one as good as google news, but I really dislike the new layout so much that now I go one or two times per day because its almost impossible to me to find the news that I like, or may like.Google is getting WAY too big for its britches.One more day, and then I am out of here - Probably to Yahoo, or someone who cares about MY choices.Amazing. Nearly all of the feedback HATES the new design.

The new design also produces a lot of junk articles.

Google's attitude? Screw the users. Google won't change the design.

Here's another Google screwup, just like Buzz.

Why not give us an option to opt out of this "experiment"?

Or is the experiment to see how long before we give up using Google altogether?

New design is horrific, what were they thinking? Makes Huffington Post look like a Nobel Prize design.

In other words, following in the great tradition of Buzz, Google should immediately roll this out to everybody. Hey, we're Google, got a problem with that?

Worst layout ever, I will never use google news if it doesn't go back to the original layout. I DID opt out.  I am back (Thank HEAVENS) to a real news page.Delete your cookies for Google.

Deleting cookies

You can delete all or some cookies in Internet Explorer.

To delete a single cookie

In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options. On the General tab, under Browsing history, click Settings. Click the View files button. Click the Name column heading to sort all the files alphabetically, and then scroll down until you see files that begin with the prefix Cookie:. All cookies will have that prefix, and they usually contain the name of the website that created the cookie. So, look for something that says cookie:YOURNAME@Google something Right-click the cookie you want to delete, click Delete, and then click Yes. Close the window that contains the list of files, and then click OK twice to return to Internet ExplorerThe redesign is terrible. Please revert back to previous version.I was so pissed off i actually went to yahoo, somthing i swore i would never do and it is clear where google got their inspiration from since they are almost identical. The yahoo page sucks just as bad as this new bullshit layout. The first reviews and furious comments regarding this "experiment" were posted on Feb 4th, why the F*** is this not being addressed? Google is seriously the next Microsoft, fixing shit that is not broken and then pretending to actually listen to all of the sheep complain. FUCK YOU GOOGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I also do not like the new design. Deleting all the google.com cookies as described in an earlier post "fixed" the problem for me (brought back my customized news page).

As others have mentioned, I wish there had been an easier, more "visible" way to opt-out.

The new design looks awful!!! Please revert back to the old design as it's much easier to navigate.
Seriously, move it back, or at least give users the option to choose.  What, exactly, is the experiment?  Where was the notice, or option to opt in?  Based on the feedback that I'm seeing, you're trying to see how far you can aggravate people before they move.  Please give us the option to opt out.I am sad to report that while deleting the cookies worked for me for a period of approximately two weeks, the redesigned layout came back uninvited.  I am afraid that this means that Google is expanding the scope of this ill conceived "experiment."  What is most disheartening is that there has been no response or comment by the Google staff since Feb 4.  Almost all the feedback posted here has been negative, but Google remains silent.  Reluctantly, I've been looking for alternative news aggregators.  Perhaps not coincidentally, the Bing news page also uses an ungrouped large central column like the new Google News layout.  Among alternatives, the best I've found is reuters.com.  Because we, as users, do not pay for Google News we have no effective way to voice our dissatisfaction except to go elsewhere.  Perhaps the true experiment here is not with the page layout, but with what abuse we Google users will tolerate.Awful. Awful Awful.  How can I get my old page back? Deleting cookies did not work for me either. Very angry not to have been given a choice.  Wasted half an evening trying to "fix" page, scrolling through endless articles in which I have no interest whatsoever, unable to find the sections I want. What are you thinking?
Sigh.....    I uderstand that I don't pay for any of this, at least not in cash, so I have no "rights" in this situation, but this is so annoying.  The effects, of Google's "news experiment", that they SHOULD be evalutaing are not how users feel about the usability of the new layout, but rather user's reaction to the forced change; that no one wants these types of changes forced on them.  They don't want their home page unneccesarily turned upside down, and they don't want to feel led around by the nose (with all the bovine implications) with something as fundamental as the FIRST THING THEY SEE every time they open a browser.  Is that what the expeiment is actually about: "How important are user's home pages to them"?There are two duscussions running about Google's "news experiment".  Among approximately 80 comments, only one post wasn't actually angry, and even that commenter didn't like the changes.  Some commenters are angry, and offer comments about usability, but most commenters are just angry;  angry at having this thrust in their faces, angry at being forced to learn a new interface for which there is no apparent benefit, and, in fact seems to provide considerable detriment.In light of Google's lack of response to both of these threads, I've changed my home page to msn.com.  Another users suggested that Reuters website is customizable in a manner similar to Google's old News layout.  I may try that, but I'm done here.I REALLY don't like the "new" Google news page.  Firefox goes straight to the new news page.  IE goes to the old format.  I will be using IE until Google gets their heads out of their collective A$$ and at least gives users an option to switch between the two formats.
Finally, the experiment is over. The idiot designer got a promotion. My news page returned to its normal (and much better) layout.

If Google wants to make an improvement, get rid of the default Top Stories section at the top of the page. Let us define our own keywords for every section.

Instead of having the top stories organized by category and all categories visible at the same time, I have to click through each one at a time. I'm not seeing the improvement here, in fact it's really turning me off from Google news. Fast Flip is the greatest thing google has ever done!!! Fast Flip is the future of web surfing especially for news sites.If Fast Flip is what this debacle is called, here is a heartfelt, cumulative & collective bird flip to Google from all of us here on this site.1)  The suggestion that those of us who are displeased should flush our cookies is idiotic and patronizing.   A PROMINENT button saying "RESTORE" would have been how hard to code?
2)  You want feedback?  Don't make me jump through 4 screens to give it.
3)  Want to surprise us people with Beta "experiments"?  Don't!  I don't need goddamn surprises.
4)  Oh yeah... feedback.  If you guys need someone to tell you what a piece of shit your redesign is... you should be fired.
Terrible design, I'm totally surprised by Google. they are usually pretty good at coming up with better products not worse ones. Where did my sections go? Oh - the left panel? Now I have to make multiple clicks to see the news I had customized before in one single comprehensive page. If there was some thought as to how this new layout would be "better" I wish they would have made some note of it. Instead I got dropped onto a page that made no sense. I cleared my cookies and cache and now it's back to what is more helpful to me. If it happens again, I'm gone...To DATABONG .... thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
I really dont like this new outlook design crap.  I cant read news at google.  Please change back my layout or at least show us how to do it I am extremely unhappy with it and I would like the old layout back this is really harassing people like me who read google news everyday.  I wont be coming to google and reading news ever again if it doesnt get back to normal.Horrible design, cluttered, distracting, dumbed down and too damned "widgetized".  I don't want to (and simply won't) do a mouse-hover over every item just to see some context. The sidebars are out of hand. It's annoying as hell to see a "progress indicator" on the personalization -- Come on people, you're making it seem as if I'm morally obliged to personalize the thing. It should be an option, not a chore and an eyesore.

When I want clutter I go to "igoogle" (rarely) and to Google Reader. News should be simpler and smarter.

I can't understand why you folks in Googleville keep up with these endless, counter-productive tweaks to your products when you leave many basic, simple, commonsense improvements undone.

I have put up with this idiotic experiment for a week now and enough is enough.How long do your experiments run before you realize that its not working and you go back to what worked fine in the first place??? Kinda reminds me of BP,they dont listen either.Oh well guess its off to Yahoo news.Bye bye.I am done with google news.  I shouldn't have to spend all this time messing with their website because of their stupidity.  There is plenty of evidence that users want the old format back and they have chosen to ignore it.  I'm voting with my web surfing ability.  Someone else will take my web news traffic.  I'm sure I'll hear about it when and if google news reverts back.PLEASE REMOVE THE IMAGE BACKGROUND ON HOME PAGE.  THIS IS HORRIBLE.  WE WANT OPTIONS.  STOP COPYING BING!!Not happy about this experiment. I tried, I really tried but the new format is too bad. Too much wasted space and not enough glancable content. The 2 column format was way more readable. So now, how do I put it back withouth nuking all of my browser's cookies?Here's how to bring back the old news format in IE 81.  Go to the Google news page in IE2.  Hit F12 to bring up IE's developer tools window3.  Select the Cache menu then select "clear domain cookies'4. Close the IE windows and re-launch Google newsThis will nuke just the Google cookies and reset the news back to the old format.Before running such huge experiments, you should try to run a focus group between your users, you can pre-test ideas without creating a major pain around the world.Big lesson today, research more about your users preferences, and as Coca-Cola learned sometime ago, even if you are Coca-Cola, do not try to change the Coke flavour!!!Even if you are Google, do not get out of the simple search engine homepage!!! That is why your users love you!!! Simplicity!!!PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE revert it back to how it was!  I used to go to news.google.com MANY MANY times a day and now I won't go back if it remains like that!  I WON'T GO BACK EVER AGAIN!  I'LL GO TO BING I SWEAR!You guys really, really screwed up.  Revert or I stop using Google, period.
PLEASE (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) give us the option to completely get rid of ALL of the following sections:* Greater New York (i.e., local news)I used to be able to customize Google News to only show the sections which *I* am interested in. Now, there is all of this extra, annoying junk which completely ruins the news page for me.It would be OK if we had a choice about whether we could see this experimental stuff, but currently, there is no way to get rid of it, and THAT IS ***TOTALLY*** UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sorry for shouting, but this is really infuriating.If you folks at Google want to release an experimental look and feel, that's fine. But you should also provide a way for us users to disable it if we don't want to see it. It is at best amateurish and at worst condescendingly arrogant to not allow us a way to remove these new features in your experimental software.The Google employee who made the decision to not allow us to disable this experimental stuff should be summarily fired.Please *immediately* give us a way to disable all of the sections that I mentioned above.I'd also like to add that it is rather dishonest to call all of this new stuff "personalization".In the past, I could choose which items would appear or not appear on my Google News page. Now, there are all of these sections which I can't get rid of. In other words, this new, experimental stuff is much *less* personalizable than before.Or perhaps you folks at Google are arrogantly thinking that *you* know how to "personalize" things for me better than I do. I hope I'm wrong about this. I'd hate for Google to become another Apple.PS: I deleted all google-related cookies and restarted my browser, but I'm still seeing the experimental Google News page. I'm using the Google Chrome browser under Windows.Go to: Choose a category All Discussions Google News Suggestions Google News Users - Troubleshooting How to use Google News Google News Publishers - Sitemaps Google News Publishers - Troubleshooting Google Living Stories - Troubleshooting The Google News redesign Quality of Google News Sites