You know full well that I was referring to the IMCR in it's CURRENT form which is what all of these discussions revolve around saving. I was also making the point that the rating has not been around for 50 years.
Bose-x, I've no desire to get into a spat with you, and the topic is way too important for this kind of bickering.
As a matter of fact, however, I didn't know that you/AOPA would argue the safety case based only on the more recent introduction of the 15-hour IMCR course that extended IMCR priviliges to include (limited) IMC access to controlled airspace. Nor would I consider that to be a sensible stance.
If that
is considered to be the relevant time frame, however, I would point out that AOPA's own submission to EASA is consequently in error. The IMCR in its current form has been around since March 1981, which is 26 years not the >30 quoted by AOPA. Overall though, including in its previous guise, the IMCR has been enhancing PPL safety in the UK for 38 years.