If you've been on the Internet today - or indeed turned on a radio or television - it can't have escaped your attention that a certain Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour. For some, this is the news story they have been eagerly anticipating since news of the princess' pregnancy broke all those months ago. For others, it's a mini-nightmare that elicits much eye-rolling and questions regarding where exactly the real news has gone.

Well, The Guardian website offers up a novel way for the reader to 'control' the front page based on their own preferences and news agenda. Visit guardian.co.uk and you get this:

Yes, it's all the 'royal baby' news you would expect from a major British news source. With articles like 'do you know your royal baby names?' we're reminded of that great Father Ted joke about a 'pull-out supplement on whistles'. But see that little 'Republican' tag in the corner? Click that and you get a different front page...

Suddenly all that baby news disappears, and the page is dedicated to the rest of the website's content. You can browse the site happily while remaining blissfully naive about whether Middleton has given birth yet, and easily avoid the many dozens of birth related articles that are due to appear both before, during and after the happy event.

Irish readers are considerably more likely to fall into the 'republican' camp, so there's one way of avoiding all this baby nonsense as even our national publications are consumed in the excitement. You can change your mind if your curiosity is piqued as your twitter feed explodes.

Yes, we're aware we're sort of perpetuating the royal baby media cycle ourselves with this article. But if you'll excuse us, we're going to read about how schools are preparing girls for a life of baking and Botox.