I’m still waiting for the EU to “bend” in the Brexit negotiations as Kuenssberg predicted it would.

Property speculation plays a part but there’s also an issue with the quality that house builders and consumers find acceptable in the UK even if the home is intended to be a permanent one.

I suspect it’s a combination of factors including low demand, lack of expertise, cost of importation etc. Anything a bit different is always expensive in UK construction. I was recently quoted £5k for a pair of external sun blinds. I ended up driving them over for Germany for less than £1k.

Its not just Apple. My daughter’s Google Nest Mini kept falling of the network. Google didn’t have a clue. Found out on Reddit it was due to some obscure router setting. I guess at 5 years old Google just see it as overdue for e-waste.

Ticket prices are lower in continental Europe because people can just hop on a train & travel to another city or country. In the UK the cost & queues make that unviable. So it’s Livenation-Ticketmaster prices or you don’t go. That doesn’t explain why Apple Music is more expensive in the UK though 🤔

“we expect all our businesses to continue growing … with our profitability compounding by double-digits over the next several years”. They forgot to add ‘because there is no competition’.

The same issue exists in the UK. Livenation-Ticketmaster is a global monopoly that uses high margins on ticketing to cross subsidise growth in other areas and stifle competition. It may be a 1st world problem but not being able to afford a concert or festival is a concern for many people.

Livenation/Ticketmaster is a price gouging monopoly. They promote the bands, own the venues and sell the tickets. Hence the lawsuit in the US. edition.cnn.com/2024/05/23/t...

US sues to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in a groundbreaking monopoly lawsuit | CNN Business

In a groundbreaking antitrust lawsuit that threatens to upend the way concertgoers pay for tickets, the US government and dozens of states sued Live Nation on Thursday, alleging that for years the par...

The issue with surge pricing here is that Oasis/Ticketmaster isn't trying to encourage consumers to go to a gig that's less busy or encourage more Oases to do gigs.

Many electronics manufacturers want their goods to end up in landfill. That’s why Apple iCloud lock devices, make it impossible to change MacBook keyboards and glue batteries down with the strongest adhesive known to man.