Privacy and cookies

The short version

We run our own analytics on our own server. We do not sell data, we do not build advertising profiles, and we do not embed third-party trackers in the pages you read. We measure how many people visit, which analysis gets read, and whether readers come back – because that is how we decide what to write next.

What we record

• The pages you open, with the date and time.
• How long a page was actually visible in your browser and how far down it was scrolled. This is how we tell a real read from a click that bounced.
• Your approximate country and city, derived from your IP address, and your IP address itself.
• Your browser, operating system and device type, taken from the user-agent string your browser sends with every request.
• The page that referred you, and whether you arrived from an advertisement.

Cookies

We ask before storing anything. The first time you arrive, a notice at the bottom of the page offers two choices, and nothing is written to your device until you pick one.

Accept sets one first-party cookie, ge_vid. It contains a random identifier and nothing else – no name, no email, nothing derived from who you are. Its only job is to tell a returning reader from a new one, so we know whether the work is worth coming back to. It expires about 13 months after your last visit. We use no third-party cookies for analytics.

Essential only stores no identifier. Your visit is still counted – we group it using your IP address and browser type for the length of the visit – but we will not recognise you when you return. Your choice itself is remembered in a second cookie, ge_consent, so we do not ask again.

You can change your mind at any time by deleting this site's cookies in your browser; the notice will appear again. Refusing has no effect on what you can read: nothing here is gated.

Separately, Google's advertising tag is loaded to measure whether an advertisement led to a newsletter subscription. It is not used to personalise advertising to you on this site.

The newsletter

If you subscribe, we store your email address and the date you subscribed, for the sole purpose of sending you new analysis. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing deletes you from the list.

Who else sees it

The analytics database lives on our own server. It is not shared with advertisers, data brokers or analytics vendors. Email delivery is handled by our own mail server.

Your choices

• Block or delete the cookie for this site in your browser at any time.
• Use private browsing, which discards it when you close the window.
• Ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to delete it, by writing to us through the contact page.