I don't think anyone is advocating descending directly into the pattern, Sky. We don't do that here, or in the USA.
I think that the 45 midfield downwind join is best for you, because that's what most pilots do over there.
The deadside join crossing the upwind threshold at pattern altitude and making a pattern direction turn into the downwind leg opposite the upwind threshold is still the most common way pilots join here.
I don't think there's much to choose between them in terms of safety. That comes from getting as many people as possible to follow the established and accepted method appropriate to where you happen to be.
One of the problems we have here is that, because learning to fly is so expensive (around $200 for an hour in a beat up old Cessna), people go all over the world, including the USA, to learn to fly, and then bring back whatever method they learned there.
Shy Torque:
I think that any 'standard join' will, by it's very nature, create a choke point somewhere, but I do agree that people could often be a bit more forthcomming with information, wherever they join.
MJ
Ps. I think that maybe, after 10 pages, this thread is running out of steam, and people are starting to get a bit tetchy. (Or 'over tired' as your Mums might have said?)