Nope, it was designed in a time when there were not many appliances, and those that existed had much higher current draws that they typically do today.
Note, there was at a time a much smaller alternative British plug used for lamps...i.e. lower current devices. ("Type D 2A")
If the only things you are likely to be plugging in are 12 or 15amp beasts, then the British plug is a pretty good design. Doubtless it is overdesigned for our solid state low current devices, but they didn't exist when this plug was designed.

Hey, speak for yourself. My organs are going to be pickled in canopic jars so that I can use them in the afterlife. Except, my brain that is. You can scoop that out through my nose with a long spoon - won't be needing that, thank you very much.

No, I don't feign confusion at all. I know precisely what you and for that matter most US residents mean when they say "America". Moreover, I am perhaps only a little less guilty of using the work in that sense than you are. I have however lived, visited and spoken the languages of perhaps a dozen other countries that do not use the term so ethnocentrically. Plenty of Canadians are well educated enough to assert that they also live in America, just not the United States. Despite your wish to the contrary, being the "biggest" (you're not), richest country in the region does not entitle you to dictate to others what they think.

For that matter, it may piss off the Irish no end, but Eire is correctly described as part of the British Isles from a geographic perspective. Likewise, many Finns are surprised to learn that they don't live in Scandinavia. Misunderstandings, no matter how widely held, are still misunderstandings.

My comment was merely an attempt at a little wit. I did not mean to shatter your, so easily threatened, sense of national importance.
And, look, I managed to do it without calling anyone an "asshole".

The UK doesn't have sovereign power in America.

Theoretically, the UK does indeed have plenty of sovereign power in America. Thirteen states from Canada to Guyana all recognize her Majesty to a greater or lessor extent.

I think you meant in the United States

Not really. This is how an application must behave in order to get approved for the Apple Store.
Moreover, we can assume that Tom Tom are not beholden to the regular Apple agreement, since that also prohibits developing turn by turn voice navigation applications.
It's foolish to make assumptions about the behaviour of the OS from the terms of Apple's agreement, especially when Tom Tom are clearly a special case.
Plenty of applications available through Cydia can background.

ObComment: yes, way too expensive. I'll stick to xGPS for free from Cydia.

Hmm. Interesting