Have to say, I am somewhat suspicious of their motives. It has been possible for years to ‘personalise’ the BBC News website, such as a personalised local news/weather region, simply stored in a browser cookie. They may have decided that the data they collect from signing in is of saleable commercial value, or maybe the long term plan is to make it a payable website.
@Kitz, maybe I’m being thick, but where did you find that explanation you quoted? It is twaddle. I have seen the banner hundreds of times, over the past week or two, on my iPad. I suspect it works on a simple timer, and reappears if it is more than about ‘n’ minutes since my last visit. I have not measured ‘n’ but it could be quite short, less than 60 and maybe just about 10.
@Weaver (or anybody) can you recommend a better source for news? Trouble for me is whilst I have a growing dislike of BBC, and a growing distrust of BBC news, I’ve yet to find a source that’s not worse.