DFC writes
they in an aftermath questionaire regarded as "current" i.e. they were legal and stated that they would depart tomorrow on an IFR flight in IMC from start to end
That doesn't mean they were current, and it doesn't mean they were current on the type which the test was running on.
Which country was this test done in, and how were the subject pilots selected?
Any pilot who isn't an aircraft owner (or part-owner) is VERY unlikely to have any instrument currency. In the UK, the most current instrument pilots (PPL/IR) are FAA, as are their planes, and there is no easy way to trace them and ask them if they would like to participate in a trial.
This result bears no resemblence to anything that a pilot who is current on the type would do. A climb into IMC would be second nature to an instrument pilot. A failed pitot system is obvious because the engine is running and the AI is showing the same thing as before. Not to mention the GS readout on the GPS; practically every IFR pilot uses a GPS.
I do it regularly; it is necessary on the majority of cross country flights regardless of the "plan" being VFR or IFR. The alternative is being stuck between terrain (high terrain en-route isn't unusual, even if the destination is flat) and clouds, messing about 500ft above the ground, not getting any radio service due to the low level (not to mention the ATCO wondering what the hell this idiot is doing, with his Mode C return somewhere way below the MSA), and being among a lot of other low-level traffic which is down there either because they like to be or because they have no option.
Re slagging off the IMC Rating:
It may be true that the IMC Rating enables the UK airways system to work, but equally it is true that the UK airspace system forces the IMC Rating (or something with similar privileges) to be available in the interests of safety. The predominance of Class A at very low levels, the large chunks of Class D which needs a clearance to enter (and which can be refused), mean that some other way had to be found.
In other countries they have different airspace and the IMC Rating isn't as necessary. In France you have lots of Class E and in general one can fly VFR up to FL104; this takes one VMC on top most of the time and the French issued ICAO PPL doesn't have the in sight of surface restriction which the CAA has put into its ICAO PPL. So, the need for a full IR in France isn't a huge deal. Similarly elsewhere. The USA has a very free airspace system in which a VFR pilot can very freely penetrate Class B-E and of course G, up to 17999ft.
In some places e.g. Greece there is so little GA that nobody has really had to think about how it is supposed to work if at all.
So the IMCR is a logical thing to have in the UK. To rip it up would mean ripping up the present airspace structure and rebuild it along the lines of e.g. the USA. There is a good argument for it but nobody has the balls to do it. Of course if they did rip up the IMCR they would need to provide an IR accessible to people that have to work for a living.......