Introduction to our Cookie Policy
In common with almost every site on the internet, a selection of cookies are stored across various pages of this website. Initially placed when you first visit a website, a cookie is, broadly speaking, a small data file stored on the browser of your computer, tablet or phone, whose primary objective is to help the website recognise your device the next time you visit it. Naturally, different cookies perform separate individual tasks, although their general goal is to provide a more personal user experience which is more reliable and faster than otherwise available, albeit in a largely non-identifiable manner. By having agreed to enter this website, you will have consented to the use of cookies, although if you do not accept this, please read further to see which cookies are used and how they function, as well as to obtain guidance on removing them from your browser.
Cookie Types
All the cookies which are encountered when visiting this website fall into one of two categories, depending on how long they interact with a browser. These are:
• Persistent cookies - these cookies remember your browser from earlier visits, making your surfing experience easier by ensuring that the information which you've previously shown a preference for is automatically accessible. Depending on their purpose and provider, these cookies will expire at variable points of time in the future;
• Session cookies - these are temporary cookies, which exist as a "guide" to remember your browser while you navigate our site. Activated whenever you visit our site, they cookies will automatically expire when you leave this site (as the browser session ends then).
Cookie Functions
In general terms, the types of cookies which your browser is likely to encounter will vary depending on their function, falling within the following primary categories:
• Strictly necessary cookies - the most fundamental cookies on this site, these record basic data from previous site visits for key functional parameters such as text size and user language, enabling us to provide information to you more efficiently than would otherwise be feasible;
• Performance cookies - used primarily for internal statistical purposes, these collect aggregated data from users, primarily via the Google Analytics service, in order to allow us to assess how the site is used in aggregate and how individual pages perform individually. The end goal of using such cookies is to devise new pages which are, hopefully, better than the pages which are currently in place;
• Functionality cookies - used to provide services which are customised to the individual preferences of each user, such as remembering preferences which have previously been indicated by your browser;
• Third-party cookies - some of the features which are embedded in this site are provided by third-party organisations, who themselves use cookies in order to enable you to use their services effectively. As a rule, we aim to minimise the number of third-party cookies operating on this site, in order to limit any possible inconvenience to our visitors. Consequently, we do review the use of these featured tools, such that only ones deemed absolutely essential are allowed to remain.
Cookie Providers
The vast majority of cookies which are on this site are what is known as third party cookies, being provided by companies which, even if they are based outside of the UK, such as in the USA, remain bound by their obligations under the GDRP and other pertinent EU legislation. The most relevant cookie providers are:
• Twitter - these cookies are used in order to successfully maintain the Twitter plugin which is integrated on the margins of the pages of this website;
• Google - cookies are primarily for the analytical service provided by Google in order to assess how well the site manages visitor flow, together with providing services related to the other myriad features available on Google;
• WordPress - used in order to support the functional operation of the site, via their base software or through the software used to power their plugins and widgets.
• Cloudflare - cookies used by referral partners to ensure that blacklisted users from select locations do not gain access to their sites browsers.
Cookie deletion
Should you wish not to have our cookies on your browser, particularly if you share a device rather than having your own personal surfing device (like a punting phone), then it may be worth stopping your browser from collecting cookies and deleting the ones which already exist. Cookie management is fairly easy, although this will naturally depend on your browser and operating system. Provided below are instructions for some of the most popular ones:
• Manage cookies for Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer;
• Manage cookies for Google Chrome and Android Chrome;
• Manage cookies for Apple Safari or iOS Safari;
• Manage cookies for Mozilla Firefox
This Cookie Policy will be updated on a periodic basis in order to reflect technical updates to the site or to account for changes in guidance on the matter. Latest Update - 1 January 2022