Cookie Policy

Last updated 26 August 2026.

Cookies are small files a website stores on your device. Some are needed to make a site work at all. Others, analytics among them, are optional — and under UK and EU law we have to ask before using those. That is what the banner is for. Declining is exactly as easy as accepting, and nothing optional loads until you say yes.

Change your cookie choice

Cookies this site sets

drb_consent — ours. Remembers whether you accepted or declined analytics so the banner does not reappear on every page. Lasts six months. Strictly necessary, and set only once you have made a choice.

If you log in or leave a comment, WordPress sets a few more:

• wordpress_logged_in_… and wp-settings-… — only for people with an account here. They keep you logged in and remember your admin screen preferences.
• comment_author_… and comment_author_email_… — set only if you leave a comment and tick the box asking to be remembered, so you do not retype your name and email next time. They last a year. Leave the box unticked and they are never set.

Cookies set only if you accept analytics

_ga and _ga_… — set by Google Analytics. They give your browser a random identifier so Google can tell a returning visitor from a new one and count page views. Both last two years. Neither tells us your name.

If you decline, or have not answered the banner yet, the Google Analytics code is not loaded and these cookies are never created. Not blocked after the fact — never requested in the first place.

Other things worth knowing

These are not cookies, but they do involve your data:

• Google Fonts. The site's typefaces load from Google's servers, so your IP address reaches Google when a page opens. No cookie is set, and this happens whatever your analytics choice.
• Gravatar. On posts with comments, profile pictures load from secure.gravatar.com, run by Automattic.
• Akismet. Comments are sent to Automattic to be checked for spam.
• The like button. Pressing it stores a scrambled, one-way version of your IP address on our own server for twelve months, so the same person cannot vote twice. That sits on the server, not in your browser.

There is more detail on all of this in the Privacy Policy.

Changing your mind, or blocking cookies yourself

Change your cookie choice

You can also delete or block cookies in your browser's own settings. Blocking everything may stop parts of this site, or any other, working as they should.