Where does one ask Jim nowadays? I've not really used anything since the demise of bit-torrent btjunkie ages back. 

Piratebay has gone to hell in a handcart, so I usually use limetorrents through Tor, with BT4G to mop up obscurities,

They're generally all laced with popups and ads these days.
I tend to use magnet dl (which doesn't have popups and isn't banned on Sky or VM yet).
rarbg on a VPN

So, a personal VPN is recommended for such shenanigans then?

To grab the torrent/magnet? Yeah, loads of torrent sites are blocked. Or just use TOR browser as Manthorp mentioned.

To download the actual content? Your choice, I never have and I'm yet to end up in jail on piracy charges.

Silly not to, really. Especially as they're not expensive. I use NordVPN which is cheap and simple. They have double VPN (connect via two anonymous servers) if you're feeling especially shy. They do an Onion connection as well but I've never got it to work. I use it for all trips to see Jim even for usenet which somewhat safer than torrenting. 

As for what Ant says: yeah, up to you and it's probably low risk. In my case, I'm a bit stuck for decent internet connections (although CityFibre are about to stick a gigabit connection outside my house) as it's either a high speed Virgin cable or a shitty 6-7 Mbit phone thing. So I don't want to upset Virgin with loads of dodgy torrenting (that they can see).