I have a Motorola Edge 60 Neo, it was a reasonably cheap phone at £300 when it was relatively new (I think it's around £250 now. I'm yet to find all that bundled crapware the GP speaks of... hell it didn't even come with Facebook. I've gone and disabled all the AI stuff so it's now a decent phone with quite good hardware for the 300 quid category.

I bought my mum a G56 and it was largely the same story, except no AI as that was an older and even cheaper model (about £150). She loved it as it weighed half as much as the ancient Samsung she was lugging around.

I'm not particularly brand loyal though, I previously bought Nokias (HMD Global) but nothing they make is remotely good any more.

What people forget is that hardware isn't particularly expensive when you're buying it in bulk, especially before the recent RAMAGEDDON (which makes the full 8GB in my 60 Neo even more amazing). So production of cheap and mid range phones isn't that expensive especially when you're not customising the software to the Nth degree to preserve your brand. Margins are probably razr thin on a sub £400 phone but they're not being sold as loss leaders in the hopes of selling £800 phones to people who want £200 phones... You deserve to go out of business if you think that'll happen.

And this is just how much power the US has lost due to the Republicans. 25 years ago, just after Clinton the idea that you'd say no to the US was absolutely unthinkable for a nation like Canada, Australia, Mexico, et al. anyone who was an ally of the west. The US used to literally put laws on the books of foreign countries via trade treaties, even the EU wasn't powerful enough to give an outright "no". This is how US drug laws and US copyright laws became "international". I watched it happen to Australia in the 90s and early 2000s but then the US elected Bush and that power began to wane. The Australian and UK prime ministers followed Bush into Iraq with tails wagging like the sycophantic little lap dogs they were. This was when the US started losing it's power because it became embroiled in a war it couldn't win despite Bush declaring it won (TBF he didn't do it 17 times).

Now Bush, to his credit, what little there is didn't abuse this power too much but countries were finding the new copyright laws to be... well, frankly retarded as the MPIAA tried to do speculative invoicing in Australia and constantly running up against judges who would actually apply the laws fairly and justly (you know, "activist" judges as they like to call them). This was the late 00s. Obama came in and realised he'd have to start negotiating because the power the US had lessened. Started building up good will. Then you had Trump that pissed all that away... the Republicans kept doing damage as best they could through Biden and now you've got Trump 2, you've got nations that were once willing lapdogs telling you to go do one.

The Canadians, one of the, if not the nicest nations on the planet is telling you to fuck right off... if a British politician had done this we'd have quietly shuffled him off to the Svalbard consulate with an Apology to the Norwegians made on a copious quantity British vodka so that the worst he could do is offend Pingu.

American history is filled with such moments, trail of tears, Wounded Knee, et al. up to Mai Lai.

Kiwi history only has a few smudges in comparison.

Covering up such crimes is as American as selling beads to natives and then force marching them.

Braaaains, grrr, argh.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... You think Trump is fixing this?

Nope, as per usual this will be ignored if you make a generous tithe... erm... donation... erm... gratuity in advance to the Trumpublican party.

It's a law that won't ever be enforced... unless you're a company the tangerine thundercunt doesn't like.

The end game is not to protect US workers, but strip what few rights they have down so that they're as cheap as the Indian workers.

The thing is, the UK are looking for anything terrorism related... Anything else is fine even if it technically violates another law and even if Border Force enforces that law. In the US they're on the look out for anything, drugs, sex, anything that can be used to hang you with.

Beyond that, anything they do needs to stand up in court and British judges don't give LEOs carte blanche in fact it's quite the opposite. There is a burden of evidence on the prosecution, the whole "I smelled liquor on his breath, I swear it" won't fly in a British court. An accusation requires evidence.

The problem in the US isn't with the written law, it's the immunity given to the enforcers. There's a saying Expats in the Philippines have, "the Philippines has an excellent legal system but a terrible justice system", this means the laws are sound as they were pretty much copied from developed countries back in the 50s and 60s but the courts and police are so corrupt that they never get applied with any kind of fairness. The US is descending into this.

Aslo having your phone searched by border force is rare, never even heard of it happening. In fact it's been years since I've even had to talk to someone whilst entering the UK, ever since they allowed Australian passports to use the E-Gates. there's been absolutely no need for me to interact with them at all and I'm usually kerbside within 30 mins of landing at Heathrow and that includes getting my luggage. You really should travel outside the US to see just how wrong the US has done air travel.

If this was in the EU, it never would have gotten this far... in fact it probably wouldn't have happened in the first place.

I wouldn't take bets on him winning in the US. Their legal system is set up to service the rich and powerful and this guy sounds like he's neither.

Economists have predicted 15 of the last 4 recession.

Regardless of what they're on about or who's paying them I'd take it with a huge grain of salt.

Technically this is a re-enlistment bonus, so they're not trying to attract new recruits but keep the ones they have... and if this is being touted as a re-enlistment bonus things must truly be dire.

And this is the real reason so many vested interests are trying to kill cash worldwide... because the banks don't get a cut of every transaction made with cash. It's not about eliminating privacy (that might be a slight benefit for some), the real reason is far more insideous... it's that the rich aren't able to profit from it.

People who listen to bad music also bad drivers. Seems there's a link between making different kinds of bad choices.

Tune into the News at 11 where we ask, is water really wet?

This is the result of a society that has been addicted to easy credit to the point where they think credit is the same as money.

And what happens when every shop is doing it because it's literally not illegal?

This is exactly why this kind of behaviour is illegal in many countries and you can't sign away your statutory rights with a shrinkwrap contract.... Hell you can't even sign them away with a contract written in blood.

I don't disagree with that one iota... However normal people don't buy Windows licenses like they buy their pants, home users buy it as a package with their computer (OEM) so they won't notice the price increase where as companies pay per year for CALs and they'll notice but can't do anything about it.

With the price of RAM and Storage going up it's the perfect time for MS to raise prices and not get blamed for it.

What do you mean "nothing". This means he cant use someone else’s money to buy another tropical island where he can be protected and isolated from people like you or I when the revolution comes...

Billionaires like Larry are suffering, their valet has to walk 5 miles to get bottles of artisan water every day. You can help this, donate $30 per day to the Make a Fortune foundation and change the plight of a billionaire.