A short, honest page about what this site stores on your device, why, and how to change your mind whenever you like.
Cookies are tiny files a website stores on your device. Some are strictly necessary — they keep the contact form working and fend off bots. Others are optional — they help me see what people actually read, which informs what I write next.
This site does not run advertising cookies, social media trackers, session replay, fingerprinting, or anything similar. The table below is the full list of what gets set, and you are in charge of the optional ones.
Cookies grouped by category. Strictly necessary ones run whether you accept the rest or not — they are the bare minimum for the site to work and have a lawful basis other than consent.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Duration | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nf_ab | Netlify (form host) | Spam protection for the contact form. Set only when the form is interacted with. | Session | |
| _ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes one visitor from another so the same person reading three pages doesn't show as three visitors. | 2 years | |
| _ga_SRXV5KPNT7 | Google Analytics | Maintains session state for this site's GA4 property (ID G-SRXV5KPNT7). | 2 years |
One non-cookie disclosure. This site loads fonts from Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com / fonts.gstatic.com). No cookie is set, but the request transmits your IP address to Google in the normal course of serving the font file. If this matters to you, most browsers offer a font-blocking extension; the site will fall back to system fonts.
Toggle the optional category on or off and hit save, or use the shortcut buttons. Your choice is stored in this browser's localStorage under mch_consent_v1 and applies on every page until you change it.
Keeps the contact form working and helps stop spam. Cannot be switched off because the site has a lawful basis other than consent for these (legitimate interest under UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)).
Always onGoogle Analytics 4. Tells me which pages people read, on what kind of device, from which country — aggregate only, nothing identifying. Turning this off clears any GA cookies already set on your device.
You can withdraw consent for analytics whenever you like — toggle it off above, or click the Cookies pill in the corner of any page to bring the banner back. Rejecting analytics will clear any Google Analytics cookies this site has already set on your device.
Under UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), you also have the right to:
Day-to-day, GA4 is configured with IP anonymisation on Google's side and the data is used only to inform editorial decisions for this site. It is not combined with other datasets, sold, or shared with advertising networks.
For anything to do with cookies, data, or your rights, email mark@mcheard.co.uk and I will come back within two working days.