IO
Never have I heard such nonsense and to offer such as advice to an aspiring pilot is idiotic.
The NPPL may not suit you but there are more ways to fly than in cloud at FL frozen to death from A to B.
If kile wants to fly for flyings sake and take that privileged view of the earth that only a few are allowed just for the sheer joy of it and has no ambitions that take him (or her) beyond the UK and to do all of that within a budget then the NPPL may be perfect.
The NPPL will not be appreciably cheaper at the start but the "running costs" could make the difference between someone who stays with it and someone who falls by the wayside.
You don't have to just bimble around the local area on an NPPL, nothing to stop you flying a thousand types of aircraft, learning aerobatics, touring the islands and highlands, landing on the beach at Barra, popping down to Bodmin, taking the family to Blackpool then down to Bexhill - and that's just the Bs. And doing any one of a thousand things that I've not mentioned.
Doesn't actually sound like a dead end to me.