"Read the question as well as the answer. "
Question
"This may sound like a silly question but did these two chaps have an IMC rating?"
I assume that was the question?
"One had a rating that had lapsed many years before and the other did not."
I guess that was the answer. Seemed pretty straight forward to me.
"The IMC rating is not the answer to such situations!"
I guess that was the answer to another question I missed.
Whether the IMCR was the answer is debatable. However as long as we are agreed an IR was no less nor no more the answer we are all happy
So here is the question you would have liked to be asked
Would an IR or an IMCR have been of any help in this situation?