Originally Posted by Crevan 
Can anyone tell me if the bulky British plugs are in any way better than the standard European ones?
That is a good question.
Prior to the introduction of the current square plug, British plugs were round pin. The same triangular configuration, and in three versions, a 15 amp, a smaller 5 amp and an even smaller 2 amp. These plugs were unfused.
The 5 amp was compatible with a two pin plug where an earth wasn't required. That 2 pin plug was not polarity keyed. Also at that time houses were star wired with each circuit going back to a (rewiirable) fuse panel. The fuse was rated at 15, 5 or 2 amps. The fuse protected all the wiring up to any internal fuse in the equipment.
The introduction of the ring main changed the concept, in that the ring main was fused at 30 amps - certainly in excess of the current carrying capacity of the equipment cable, even if that was connected to a 15 amp plug, let alone a 5 or 2amp version. Generally they didn't have shutters, so the live pins could be seen.
The solution was to introduce a fused plug, and to make it incompatible with existing wiring, the pins were made square. Apart from anything else, that gave the pin the strength to open the new shuttered socket.
That square form factor is not necessarily better. A round pin, with a slit up it makes extremely good contact with a round pin receptacle. If you look at an industrial connector (blue for 240V, yellow for 115V also a BS standard) the pins are round, and almost all high current connectors are round pin for that reason, lower contact resistance and less heat. (And versions carry 30 amps at 440V - same form factor - round pin, different spacings or keyways)
The square form factor is not so easy to make a good contact, and usually contact is only made on two of the faces, and the size of the pin means that the receptacle is not a single piece of metal. The pin is solid, so there is no springiness in that, and it is quite common to see discoloured socket (or plug) that has overheated, particularly for high current appliances like washing machines.
So on balance, sadly, the square p[in plug is generally inferior, and a round pin fused plug would be better. That rules out the european shuko plug, because they are unfused, and even if a fused version was produced, it couldn't be used because of the risk of using an unfused version.
Couple of other issues. Another form factor is the flat blade, like that used in the US. That can be made to give a good contact, although there are some really cheap and nasty US plugs available!) They are also available in two pole versions, and are nominally polarised.
Why the concern over polarity? It is less of an issue now, but again in the early days of bvalve radio (and televisions up to about the 1980s) there was no mains transformer in the set. The valve heaters were connected in series so that they could take 240 v applied directly to the caian (valves were designed to take a constant current - 300mA IIRC) and the HT supply was taken by rectifying the mains input. This meant that the chassis was directly connected to mains neutral - or if the polarity was wrong, mains live! Not a problem when the cabinet was fitted, but if not... and some valve radios (notably suitcase portables that were designed to be mains or battery powered) had a similar arrangement.
End of history lesson
Plus points for UK - Fuse and shutters
Minus points - poor contact performance, leading to risk of overheating, bulky.
PS There was (again iirc) talk of a new, pan-European plug, but don't hold your breath!