Lee ows PIA? That explains a bit. I have an interent distrust of big VPNs whose ads are so prolific all over the place. Same reason I won't use Nord.

He did own PIA but not for a few years, he sold it to a different (but with its own shady past) company in 2019

Any recommendations today for hosted vpn?

I made a choice based on one thing: the ones that advertise are all peddling complete bullshit. They make claims anyone that know anything about computers understand are borderline lies. They are owned in weird structures in jurisdictions nobody knows much about.

I chose one in my home country (which is 18 eyes or something like that, but that matters less to me) Sweden.

I use Mullvad. I have been very happy. I have gotten good support, almost no overhead on a 200mbit/s connection and very little traffic disruption.

I am not involved with them in any way other than being a satisfied user.

I don't use any such services, so you'll need to ask elsewhere.