I take on board what you are saying about the "retired" person wishing to fly and the NPPL making their flying wishes come true more easily.
Why though, (whether retired or not) should one person be issued a flying licence which allows them to take three friends flying from one end of the country to another, in a country where weather is known to be changeable, where high ground kills pilots each year, when health-wise they may not even be allowed to drive a lorry and to top it all they have received considerably less training than a PPL holder.
I'm not knocking the introduction of a "variation" to the PPL. What I am saying is that if the holder of one of these licences was less experienced and less healthy than a fresh PPL, aren't they adding more odds to the chance of another well publicised accident that could one day seal our fate as PPL holders.
The press are hardly going to differentiate between the fact that the pilot was a NPPL or a PPL.