I would like to point 2 points here,
firstly if BA wansts to attract continental flyers such as myself they have to be more interesting in regards their program and price,because flying to the UK to continue to a further destination usually extends the flight by an hour and more unless you fly to the US,so if they don't offer anything more their clientbase will be from the UK and that's it.
Secondly I feel that BA is trying to emulate Qantas with this decision,has anyone tried to explain to BA that they're WAY bigger than Qantas and that they risk allienating a much bigger chunk of their loyal customers.

I can't and wont accept that this change of policy is due to 2 or 3 lounges worldwide where LOYAL BA customers might be taking advantage of.How much losses is BA induring due those few lounges?How much revenue might they lose if GCH holders might feel content with being silver and not try to reach Gold status anymore??How many seats wont be filled due to contentment of Silver status instead of Gold?
One does really wonder if this strategy has been thought through!