BS1363 and CEE 7/4 (Schuko) and CEE 7/5 (French) are not exactly that different in terms of size and the good quality versions will easily last 100+ years without any issue. They're all enormous and built like industrial equipment in comparison to their flimsy North American and Australian cousins
The moulded versions of BS1363 are also now getting much neater, and we're starting to see versions that are very similarly sized to a moulded Schuko. Materials have improved since the 1940s and there's no need to make everything out of bakelite in 2007 !
