And was this visa issued just a couple of weeks after a previous, completely contradictory letter from the Home Office stating that the visa could NOT in fact be issued, that it had to be subject to further investigation before a decision could be made and that a decision was unlikely to be made before the next 12 months..?
Yes, this was a standard letter at the time. Would you like a copy?

And was this visa also issued 2-3 months before your friend became eligible for permanent leave to remain, in clear breach of the immigration rules?
Yes, 4 months actually, and it's not against the rules as long as all the paperwork was in order. The thing is, they have already done all the checks they required when the previous visa was applied for. You are allowed to switch visa's, pretty stupid if you can't.

I know a lot of Filipino nurses, and it took 1 month of immigration processing to get their families over here. Some have since changed to work visa's in that time. So must be a lotof rule breaking going.

It clearly states on all paperwork my wife received "No cash payments" yet only last Tuesday we paid cash. It also states on British Citizenship applications a list of proof of English, but they will except other proof not on the list, breaking the rules again eh?

I'm not defending anyones actions, but immigration is based on each individual case and they are allowed flexibility, but not with the first application. You'd be surprised what they had on record about my wife, as the guy showed us on Tuesday (that must be against the rules as well!).