Ah Rustle,
You wouldn't believe how ones English suffers when one spends several years surrounded by people who cannot speak it
I use the definition "stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate" (per dictionary.com), which when you see how GA in the UK is treated from my position, might not be as inaccurate as you think.
I think that regulators have a financial impact on the market which goes further than the IRT. Regulation of the IR pilot in the UK tend to be more onerous (unreasonably so), and this costs money. All that expensive extra equipment required just to fly in an airway at a few thousand feet, Mode S and 8.33kHz would be an example. These cost money, which is why they would never be imposed upon the GA community in the US without "unobstructive consultation". The FAA will have one hell of a fight on its hands if it wants people to put this kit it in their warriors because they want to fly through a layer over southern california. But the logic of imposing 8.33kHz AM spacing when digital is here is another subject
