sorry 'jaba' open wide & i'll put those words right back in yr mouth!
As a lot have posted here saying much the same thing, we almost all believe it's about being current on the dials. I feel that you can never get enough IF practice, heavens knows when the wx is fowl & it's night, the A/P thru in the towel due nasty turb & one has to hand fly an NDB with winds coming from all points of the compass(feels like it) all the skills in the world won't make it perfect.
Maybe mandatory IF skills (other than a few steep turns in the sunshine) whilst obtaining any license & on going checking to even some basic level has to be the way to go in the future. We've all read some interesting articles in the old 'crash comics' from years gone by, how many seconds was it that took a non inst rated pilot to end up in a graveyard spiral? can't remember exactly but somewhere less than a minute, that was scarey to read way back then as it would be now!
CW