Beagle,
I know I'm going on a bit but surely this is a contadiction:
"I will be objecting to the ludicrous notion of 'LAFI's becoming FIC instructors as soon as the NPA is released."
Why will you be objecting when you also say:
" we won't give a rat's about the licence held by the instructor as we'll only offer jobs to people who can prove that they have sound personal flying skills, acceptable interpersonal skills, the ability to impart instruction and the capacity to assess the student's flying."
What if the LAFI had 3000 hours instruction under their belt and all the qualities you mention above? Unless you think that a LAFI will have less of a knowledge base...... I can't see the differerence between this and the CPL/PPL FI argument?
At least if there were a division between the privileges of a LAFI and CPL qualified JAA FI's there would be room for everyone.
Anyway, at least we can agree on the Wings and Gold bars thing.