Alan, I think they got mixed up, it was mentioned (possibly by yours truly) that some of the towpath, which used to have a grass verge, which you could put pins in, was paved, it was a stretch from Islington to Hackney and it happened around five or six years ago. The NBTA then confabulated this into the whole lot being done recently.
Yes it annoyed me, I think it's important to have the facts, not make things up. No one could predict how busy it was going to get, so to claim it was done deliberately. No.
But I note, around the same time, the whole stretch along Victoria Park, where it wasn't possible to moor, when they drained and rebuilt the bankside, they put rings in.
I think we've a lot more moorable space than we had, Theres good reason that some bits dont have rings. I personally feel the stretch along Regents Park is quite narrow. The trip boats are deep draughted. If you allowed mooring down there (especially widebeams), if they didn't dredge, you'd have problems.