Last updated: 18 October 2026

This policy explains what personal data The Army Leader (thearmyleader.co.uk) collects, why, and the choices you have. We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Who we are

The data controller is Will Meddings, The Army Leader. Contact: will@thearmyleader.co.uk.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

We show adverts provided by Google AdSense. Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads, limit how often you see them, measure their performance and, where you allow it, show ads personalised to your interests. Google processes information such as your IP address, device and browser details and the pages you visit. Google explains this in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

If you visit from the UK, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, Google’s consent message asks for your choices before advertising cookies are used for personalised ads. You can change or withdraw your choices at any time using the “Privacy and cookie settings” link provided by Google’s message on this site. You can also manage ad personalisation at Google’s My Ad Center. Advertising cookies are only used with your consent, which is the legal basis for them. If you decline, Google may still show non-personalised or limited ads.

Amazon affiliate links

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links to Amazon (for example, in book reviews) carry our Associates tag (thearmlea-21). If you follow one, Amazon may set cookies to record that you came from this site. We receive no personal information about you from Amazon, only aggregated sales reports. Amazon’s own privacy notice applies on its site.

Comments

Commenting is currently closed. Earlier comments remain published with the name (and any website) the commenter gave. For each comment we hold the name, email address, IP address and browser details provided at the time. Comments were checked for spam by Automattic’s Akismet service. Comment avatars are loaded from Gravatar (Automattic) using an encoded form of the commenter’s email address. If you want a past comment of yours removed or changed, email us.

Email, contributions and accounts

If you email us (for example at editor@, marketing@ or reviewseditor@thearmyleader.co.uk), we use your email address and message only to reply and deal with your enquiry, article submission or book review. Contributors who were given a site account have a username, display name and email address stored in WordPress so their articles can be credited.

We do not currently operate a mailing list or send newsletters. An older sign-up box may still appear on some pages; we do not use any email address entered there to send you mailings.

Security, hosting and site services

  • Hosting: the site is hosted by GoDaddy. Their servers keep standard access logs (including IP addresses) to run and secure the service.
  • Cloudflare: pages are delivered through Cloudflare’s content delivery network, which processes IP addresses and may set a strictly necessary security cookie (for example __cf_bm) to filter out malicious bots.
  • Wordfence: our security plugin logs IP addresses, browser details, pages requested and login attempts to block attacks and investigate incidents. It may set security cookies for people who log in.
  • Jetpack (Automattic): provides image and file delivery, sharing and “like” buttons, and site statistics, which record visits (including IP address, browser and pages viewed) so we can see how the site is used.
  • Embedded and third-party content: some pages load Google Fonts or embedded content such as posts from X (Twitter). These providers receive your IP address and may set their own cookies.
  • Pop-ups: the Icegram plugin may store a note in your browser so a message is not shown to you repeatedly.

Strictly necessary security cookies do not need consent under PECR. Our legal basis for security, hosting and statistics processing is our legitimate interest in running a secure, working website.

International transfers

Some of the providers above (including Google, Amazon, Automattic, Cloudflare and GoDaddy) may process data outside the UK, including in the United States. They rely on safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the International Data Transfer Addendum.

How long we keep data

  • Published comments and their metadata: for as long as the comment remains on the site, or until you ask us to remove it.
  • Emails: for as long as needed to deal with your enquiry or submission, and then deleted or archived for no longer than necessary.
  • Contributor accounts: until the account is removed.
  • Security and server logs: kept for a limited period set by Wordfence, GoDaddy and Cloudflare, then overwritten.
  • Cookies set by Google, Amazon and other third parties: for the periods set out in their own policies.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for access to your personal data, and to have it corrected or erased. You can also ask us to restrict how we use it, object to our use of it (including for direct marketing), ask for a copy in a portable format, and withdraw consent at any time. To use any of these rights, email will@thearmyleader.co.uk. We will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page if the way we use personal data changes. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.