Harsh but true. It's the same phenomenon as defending the BS 1363 power plug that needed an embedded fuse because their domestic postwar electrical wiring was Not Great -- to save on copper.
But we all do this with our own stanky poop.
But we all do this with our own stanky poop.
Still a vastly better mechanical design than what they make you use in the US: they barely hold in the socket.
People who prefer plugs that are fun to step on are doing electrical interfaces wrong!
The US plug (NEMA 1-15P is the 2-prong version, or 5-15P for the most common 3-prong grounded) is actually pretty decent. They stay in sockets pretty well if the sockets aren't bottom-of-the-barrel garbage products which, sadly, many things in the US are in general.
What many people miss when comparing US and EU plugs are that they're actually doing fairly different jobs. The 120V mains in the US is significantly less trouble than the 240V in Europe, so you can get away with a lot less mechanically on the plug. The US NEMA 6-15P plug design (the 240V version of the standard plug) is, accordingly, kind of shit. But at least it's rare enough that receptacles tend to be of decent quality, which mitigates a lot. The locking versions (L5-15R etc) are actually quite good, and should almost always be used when possible and appropriate. They're good to 480V and even a bit beyond -- not just working but actually good -- and you can't say that about most EU plug designs. You guys have those horribly bulky pin-and-sleeve disasters and we get nice NEMA locking plugs for our three-phase.
One of the other things that European plugs have to deal with, and US plugs don't, is that European electricians have no idea how to separate hot and neutral wires and basically wire them up randomly. This has major consequences in a lot of product design and is really really annoying when you're trying to build something safe. (Namely: in the US you're often (but not always) not allowed to fuse neutral wires. That makes sense, for safety reasons. You have to fuse hot... but in Europe you don't know which one is hot, so you have to fuse them both. Which means you just fused neutral. Design conflict!) That shows up in the plugs, too; with no idea where hot is, you have to be more careful and can't use neutral to help you out.
But in all other respects the British mains plug design is really rather good. It does a good job of making partially-plugged-in plugs still safe, it's nice and robust, it readily stays firmly plugged in, etc.; US plugs are much worse in these respects and I think so are typical continental European ones.
European ones mostly stay in the socket. But I guess they ain't quite as cleverly designed as the British ones.
But my point about electrocution risk is that 240V is not twice as dangerous as 120V. It's actually much, much worse. And 480V is worse still. We used to say that screwing up 120V will hurt you, 240V will kill you, and 480V will kill you, start your corpse on fire, and blind everyone around you. So the design requirements for all 240V class plugs are much more important.
> not falling out of walls ... is up to the manufacturer
This one is a real problem in the US because there is a standard, it is a good standard, parts are made and tested to the standard, and standards-compliant parts work very well. But few people require the damn standard. If you want good receptacles in the US, get stuff that's marked "Federal Specification W-C-596 rated" (aka "Fed Spec"; "Spec Grade" is self-certified to... something... which is... not the same thing... but in practice the manufacturers seem not to abuse that term too much; often lower-volume part numbers seem only to be available as "Spec Grade" presumably due to testing cost). It will perform well.
For the British standard, pretty much any plug you can buy will be fine.
However the plug is actually a really good piece of engineering. There’s so many subtle design features to it that can be genuinely life saving. The only drawback is the often cited problem of stepping on one, to which I say “you shouldn’t be leaving plugs on the floor anyway. And it’s still better that than having kids electrocute themselves or your house burning”
Of course, any rational British person would instantly understand that the best way to ensure safety is to have every single person wiring up every single plug in their house.
For that last point, I’ve often ended up cutting the plug off new kitchen appliances, thread the cable, then wire a new plug afterwards.
Where would you put the fuse, then?
Also, if you think that's "Not Great", just take a look at the concentrated pile of sketchiness that passes for domestic wiring in the US. Every single house in the US is an electrical fire waiting to happen - and with "balloon frame" construction which is purpose-designed to both reduce construction costs and ensure the complete destruction of the building with even a minor fire, you've got plenty for that to work with.
Balloon framing itself isn't crazy though: look at Scandinavia (maybe excluding Norway since their electrical system is a bit... special) for the same type of home construction (Western Framing Construction or whatever it's called), but with in-wall conduit and star system like in continental Europe.
In the electrical panels, of course. You'd only need fuses in the plug if you wired up your home with a braindamaged topology like a ring circuit. (Alas, ring circuits are very common in British home wiring.)
So how do you know what size to fit?
Or do you just get in about your panels and replace them every time you unplug a lamp to plug in a TIG welder?