I'm sure the US standards are fine in terms of fire safety -- though I used to occasionally see charred or melted plugs and sockets in both Canada and the US that I haven't seen in the UK, probably because the UK plug is over-engineered and thus doesn't break a sweat even at 13 amps draw. I presume the dire North American two-prong sockets of my youth have mostly been replaced by now?
Furthermore, it's almost impossible to yank a UK plug out of the socket by the cord; it's typically switched at the socket (handy!) and fused at the plug; makes positive contact over a greater surface area for better current transfer; is designed to make it very difficult for children (or others) to poke metal objects in the socket holes (they're gated) or get shocked by the prongs when pulling the plug out, and they're pretty cheap -- a replaceable plug is roughly 50p, a typical socket pair is £3.50, which seems roughly comparable to US equivalents.
Standardisation means I can plug my air compressor or arc welder into any socket anywhere using the same sockets for my phone charger, lamps, TVs, stereos, computers, washing machine, microwave, stove, clothes dryer, or -- most important of all -- an electric kettle.
The combination of 13amp socket and 240 volts means a typical electric kettle is 3000 watts, whereas the US equivalent runs about 1500 watts. That means you get your tea brewed twice as fast in the UK. If that isn't proof of British electrical superiority, I don't know what is.
On the downside, UK plugs are big -- they do make an annoying lump in your suitcase or laptop case -- but the worst thing about the UK plug is that if you leave one out of its socket, it will invariably land prongs-up to guarantee that you will step on it, bare-footed, in the night for an experience even worse, indeed, much worse than stepping on a Lego.
