Gents (& Ladies)
Whilst I can see the point of the argument of not wanting medically unfit pilots flying around.
The rules as they stand allow an FAA licenced pilot to fly in the uk, if someone can obtain an FAA licence and jump through the FAAs hoops to obtain it, why should they not pursue that if they cannot obtain a JAA medical. Surely if the object is to stop such people flying in the UK then all FAA licence holders should be stopped as they have not met a UK or JAA standard for something (I am not for a moment suggesting that this is the solution merely offering it is an argument).
I know of a couple of pilots who could not obtain UK JAA medicals and went elsewhere in europe to obtain their [insert name of country Gary can't remember] JAA medicals (so much for a european standard). These guys are very competent CPL and ATPL holders who would not have been able to pass a JAA/UK Class 1 initial issue medical at Gatwick.
Kit as regards to US v UK standards my experience which is probably not as vast as yours with regards to checking (meant truthfully not sarcastically even if it reads that way) is that there is a big terminology gap , and perhaps an emphasis on different parts of the syllabus(es), handling is emphasised in the US, theory in the UK, and a lot of pilots expect to get away with engine failures safely at lower levels than perhaps they would, but the competency when these things are discussed or allowed for on both sides are not too different.
Just my thoughts
Gary