Great thread, made cry with laughter a few times with comments from both sides of the flight deck door! I feel that there has been a bit of trolling going on and a lot if biting! All IMHO of course.
I thoroughly enjoy my down route time with my peers in the flight deck and some of the fantastic crew who I have the privilege to work with.
We have fundamentally different jobs and I am always the first to admit that I probably do not have the patience and emotional make up to deal with some of the problems that the crew have to deal with day to day with the interaction with some of the more problematic travelling public. I know, deep down, that my frustration would probably get in the way of a more diplomatic solution therefore I leave that to my delegated representatives. They do the task extremely well.
My job is to fly the aircraft, manage the crew and achieve a safe, comfortable, efficient and timely service to the customer. We all have our roles to play in that scenario.
Do I want to have a baby sitter in the cockpit for the purposes of a necessity of nature? Nope. I can understand it is required in some airlines as their security arrangements differ from other companies but it is not necessary.
In my opinion it does undermine security as the lead in for CC training is, indeed, shorter and less intense than that required to obtain an ATPL. It isn't necessary as I firmly believe that if an individual, be they flight crew, cabin crew, male, female, pax or whatever, has a wish to carry out an atrocity, suicide etc. they will find a way.
What does need to be done, rather that the 'needs to be seen' reaction of ill informed Eurocrats dictating policy in an area that they really have no idea about, is making sure that people who have these tendencies are identified, removed from the role and given the help they need. The sausage grinder that is current flying training for young applicants to the role needs to be addressed and the massive financial burdens taken into low paid high stress low cost carriers looked at.
p.s. Just had a lovely night out with a great crew and a highly pleasant evening discussing nothing whatsoever to do with flying. :-)