it seems an odd quirk in the british colonial mentality that if you create a system where people "can exercise a delegation" then you get all manner of dropkicks who come out with their tin whistles and officious looking hats to really make something of it.
consider two scenarios.
you are tested at the end of your training, deemed competent and thereafter go about flying and enjoying the life as a pilot.
or
you are tested at the end of your training, thereafter treated as an idiot, never seen as competent and are expected to enjoy a regime of tosspots and wankers who want to exert their authority over you. oh and every enjoyment you might make of it is considered a crime of strict liability.
I learnt to fly in the first environment. I can tell you that the current environment attracts absolutely no one.