Rolling Circle, you wrote that "It was never envisaged that the IMC holder should plan to fly in IMC".
As far as I can establish, the IMC rating certainly was introduced for flight in IMC. I am trying to determine why so many think otherwise.
The earliest reference I can find to a suggestion that the IMC rating is not for flight in IMC is in the CAA safety sense leaflet No 23 of 1998 which states that flying in Instrument Conditions without an Instrument Rating is "extremely unwise to say the least". (In the context in which this is written it is refering to flight in IMC with an IMC rating but not an IR.) I also understand that this was one man's opinion at the CAA, and not necessarily a generally held view there. If anyone can quote me an official reference from the time of the introduction of the IMC rating suggesting that it was not designed for flight in IMC I should be grateful. I know of no such description.
Before I got an IR, I often planned and safely made flights in IMC as the holder of an IMC rating, however, safe IMC flight is all about planning, the weather, and what you are going to do if the weather is not as forecast. It is also about remaining current.
I'm far closer to the views of WWW than most others in this thread, but it all depends on planning, and sensibly assessing the risks.
In poor weather, more people hit the ground than hit other aircraft.
If some people won't fly in IMC without a radar service, then thats fine by me. In some circumstances I will, in others I won't. Similarly, I know people who won't fly S/E aircraft at night under any circumstances. I'm quite happy to respect their decision, but I don't expect them to criticise my S/E night flights without reasoned arguments.