Ignoring the historical reasons as to why the UK developed the ring circuit, has anyone any doubt that the UK system is by far the best system in the world?
Quite a lot of people, even in the UK, have at least 'lots of doubts' about ring finals, with a good few feeling that they 'should not be allowed, with some believing that the day will come when they are not 'allowed'). Unless yopu want to just be arrogant on behalf of the UK, one also has to at least wonder why, if they were such a good idea, virtually no country without historical affiliations to the UK (many of which are 'technologically sophisticated') has ever implemented ring finals (in the UK sense).
As I've been trying to say, it's really the fused plug (
not the ring final circuit) which I personally regard as a pretty clever and useful idea (which is pretty exclusive to 'anglophile' countries).
If one is starting from scratch, with many arrangements of sockets, a 4mm² 32A radial will 'use no more (quite often less) copper' than would a 2.5mm² ring final. Either circuit allows an 'unlimited' number of sockets but, in the case of the radial, without the 'assumptions' (reasonable though they seem to be) intrinsic in a ring final - but, in either case, one needs the fused plugs. Indeed, in situations of high potential demand, there's no reason why one could not have, say, a 6mm² 40A or 45A radial - in which case the fused plugs would be even more essential.
Given that there will usually be little or no 'copper saving' resulting from using a ring, rather than a radial, as far as I can see the only thing really to be said for ring finals is that they provide CPC redundancy. The main downside of ring finals (which is one of the main reasons why some people think that they 'should not be allowed' is that a break in the L or N ring will go totally un-noticed by the user, but could result in appreciable overloading of cable.
So, to respond reiterate in response to your question, I personally believe that the use of fused plugs is a pretty clever/useful idea, but I see no real reason for ring finals (which is perhaps the considered opinion of 'the rest of the world').
Kind Regards, John