Cookie Policy

About cookies

Like most other websites, we use cookies to help improve your user experience and work out which types of content are more popular than others. A cookie is a file which is stored on your computer or mobile device, via your web browser. Cookies enable this website to recognise when somebody revisits it. By using this site you are allowing us to set these cookies.

If you do not wish to receive cookies you can easily modify your web browser to refuse cookies, or to notify you when you receive a new cookie. For more information about cookies and for instructions on how to stop cookies being installed on your computer, please see www.allaboutcookies.org and www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies respectively.

Cookies in use by this site

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

__cfduid
Cookie associated with sites using CloudFlare, used to speed up page load times. Used to override any security restrictions based on the IP address the visitor is coming from. It does not contain any user identification information.

_ga
This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics - which is a significant update to Google's more commonly used analytics service. This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the sites analytics reports. By default it is set to expire after 2 years.

_gat
This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. It is used to throttle the request rate - limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites. It expires after 10 minutes.

_gid
This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics.

_ok
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software, which provides functionality for websites to engage in instant messaging communication with visitors. Contains a site identifier, used for security purposes.

_oklv
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software, which provides functionality for websites to engage in instant messaging communication with visitors. Used to improve caching of software.

olfsk
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software. Maintains message history across pages.

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.

__atuvc
This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. It stores an updated page share count.

__atuvs
This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. This is believed to be a new cookie from AddThis which is not yet documented, but has been categorised on the assumption it serves a similar purpose to other cookies set by the service.

_ok
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

_okbk
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software, which provides functionality for websites to engage in instant messaging communication with visitors. Contains sofware state information.

_okck
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

_okcs
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

_okdetect
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

_okgid
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

_oklv
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

hblid
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software. Identifies a unique visitor between visits.

olfsk
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

wcsid
Cookie set by Olark Live Chat software.

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

__atrfs
This domain is owned by Addthis. The main business activity is: AddThis provides web widgets that site owners embed into their pages or other content, to enable visitors to create and share links to the content across social networks. They also make use of the data collected to provide advertisers and marketers with profile information for targeted, behavioural advertising.

__atuvc
This domain is owned by Addthis. The main business activity is: AddThis provides web widgets that site owners embed into their pages or other content, to enable visitors to create and share links to the content across social networks. They also make use of the data collected to provide advertisers and marketers with profile information for targeted, behavioural advertising.

__atuvs
This domain is owned by Addthis. The main business activity is: AddThis provides web widgets that site owners embed into their pages or other content, to enable visitors to create and share links to the content across social networks. They also make use of the data collected to provide advertisers and marketers with profile information for targeted, behavioural advertising.

CONSENT
YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites.

IDE
This domain is owned by Doubleclick (Google). The main business activity is: Doubleclick is Googles real time bidding advertising exchange

test_cookie
This domain is owned by Doubleclick (Google). The main business activity is: Doubleclick is Googles real time bidding advertising exchange

uvc
Tracks how often a user interacts with AddThis

VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
This cookie is used as a unique identifier to track viewing of videos

xtc
This domain is owned by AddThis. AddThis provides web widgets that site owners embed into their pages or other content to enable visitors to create and share links to the content across social networks. They also make use of the data collected to provide advertisers and marketers with profile information for targeted behavioral advertising.

YSC
YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

__adal
Adalyser - provides comparative data used to optimise TV advertising

__adal_ca
Adalyser - provides comparative data used to optimise TV advertising

__adal_cw
Adalyser - provides comparative data used to optimise TV advertising

__adal_id
Adalyser - provides comparative data used to optimise TV advertising

__adal_ses
Adalyser - provides comparative data used to optimise TV advertising

_gat_UA-nnnnnnn-nn
This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. It appears to be a variation of the _gat cookie which is used to limit the amount of data recorded by Google on high traffic volume websites.

_gclxxxx
Google conversion tracking cookie