Starbear,
I agree with you about the security of an alternate. Unfortunately JAA ops now allows for alternates to be below Cat 1 when airborne. Take the example of a foggy day in London in your shiny new minibus. You can hold at LGW with 100m RVR, whilst your alternate, say STN, is 200m RVR. You then get a single failure "ils receiver fault". Now CAT 1 you are now officially stuffed!