A cookie is a tiny piece of computer text put onto your computer’s hard drive by a website and it is used to distinguish you from other users of the site. This means that, when you revisit the website, it recognizes you (or rather it recognizes your computer) and can personalize its content especially for you.
Cookies also allow websites to monitor how effective their advertising is and help advertising agencies serve up ads that are relevant to your interests as you browse the web.
Using cookies also allows us to analyze how our visitors use the website with a popular program called Google Analytics. Among other things this allows us to see which parts of our website are most popular and therefore most useful.
If you don’t want to receive cookies from our website, you can block them in your browser – you’ll usually need to look under ‘Preferences’. Just bear in mind that this may affect how the website works, and you may not get the best experience possible or may not be able to access parts of our site.
You can learn more at www.allaboutcookies.org. This website is run by an independent body and contains all sorts of useful information about all aspects of cookies.