Also a good but affordable Forex training course in the UK

A great book I know is Bird Watching in Lion Country reviewed below

I am staying in UK. I would like to know what will be the preferable time zone for me to trade in forex.

As you have mentioned in your question that you stay in UK. The London Session will be the most preferable time zone for you to trade in.

London Session :
Open up at GMT 8:00
Closes at GMT 17:00

Currencies mostly traded in this session are:
GBP/USD
EUR/USD
USD/JPY

Hope this answer helps you!

For further info you can also browse through the blogs and sites mentioned below:

which would be the more practical thing to get into at this moment in time, considering out economy.

I’d suggest forex simply because of the stability it offers - it’s a global market so it isn’t just affected by what’s going on in a certain country.

If you want to see exactly how to get into trading forex, you should take a look at the free beginners guide you can download at http://www.forexfromscratch.com

This guide is a "step-by-step" report which explains everything you need to know about getting into forex trading.

Hope this helps?