Cookie policy
Cookies are small files a site leaves in your browser. This page lists the ones you will pick up here and what each of them is actually doing.
Last updated
What we set ourselves
Almost nothing. This site is served as plain files with no user accounts, no login and no shopping basket, so there is no session to keep track of. We set no cookie of our own for advertising or profiling.
Some pages remember a small preference in your browser’s local storage, such as whether you had a section open. That never leaves your device and we cannot read it.
Analytics
Google Analytics sets cookies to work out whether you are a returning reader and which page sent you where. They usually last up to two years and they hold a random identifier, not your name. What we do with the result is described in the privacy policy.
You can block them by refusing non-essential cookies in the banner, by installing Google’s opt-out add-on, or by turning off third-party cookies in your browser.
Advertising
The sections of this site that carry display advertising load units served by Google, and Google and its partners may set cookies to measure and target those ads. We do not control which cookies those partners set. You can turn off personalised advertising at Google’s ads settings and opt out of most vendors at aboutads.info.
Our buying guides and our tools load no advertising and no advertising cookies.
Affiliate links
Following an affiliate link takes you to a retailer, and that retailer sets a cookie so it knows the visit came from here. It typically lasts twenty-four hours. It belongs to the retailer, it is governed by their policy, and it tells us nothing about you personally. See the affiliate disclosure.
Embedded video
When a page embeds a video from YouTube or a post from another platform, that platform can set its own cookies once the embed loads. Where we can, we load embeds only after you click, so nothing is set unless you ask for it.
Turning them off
You have three levels of control, from softest to hardest.
Refuse non-essential cookies in the banner on your first visit, and analytics and advertising cookies are not set. Change your mind later by clearing this site’s data and reloading.
Set your browser to block third-party cookies, which stops most advertising tracking across every site you visit, not only this one.
Use a content blocker, which prevents the scripts loading at all. Nothing on this site breaks if you do, because none of our content depends on them.
Questions
If you find a cookie here that is not on this list, tell us with the name and we will either explain it or remove it.