"dennis@home" gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

Beware of smug old gits sticking rigidly to the limits?

Anyone that thinks there are fixed limits doesn't know how to drive.
They are and always have been variable limits in the UK.. the maximum
safe speed

Yep

up to the posted speed limit.

Nope.

The maximum LEGAL speed is the limit. The maximum SAFE speed may well be
higher. Why does this variability suddenly stop at an arbitrary number
decided many decades ago?

Its the idiots that think they must exceed it that are a problem,
usually because they can't even work out why there is a posted limit
and, hence, think that it doesn't apply to them.

That sounds like it's more applicable to those who regard the limit as
something more safety-related than an arbitrary legal line.