Justiciar: thank you for some sensible words in an otherwise very noisy bar room. I hope the EASA and NAA folks aren't reading this lot.
There's too much argument about what individuals think, or see as potential risks, without facts to support. There are far too many teddy bears littering the floor round the prams. If the fighting tigers are really supposed to be representing someone, I despair about the process that "appointed" them.
Those who don't want to hold an IMCR aren't forced to. Those who do hold an IMCR haven't been driving into terrain with monotonous regularity - on the contrary. So it seems to work in the UK.
I have an FAA IR, but unless the aircraft has the magic letter N painted on the side, I can't use it in Europe. How sensible is that? In the UK, I can fly in IMC in my G-reg aircraft, but once I reach mid-Channel I suddenly become incapable of IMC flight. How sensible is that?
I never did get the hang of politics.