Ah, I see. Sounds like the author was just confused then. But I'm afraid I still don't see the advantage of having a fuse or (circuit breaker) in the plug its

Ah, I see. Sounds like the author was just confused then. But I'm afraid I still don't see the advantage of having a fuse or (circuit breaker) in the plug itself. What is the rationale behind having two over-current devices in series? Circuit breakers and fuses (c.f. ground fault interrupters) don't really do anything to prevent a human from being zapped: They're there to prevent fires. You can easily stop a heart (or cause burns) without drawing anywhere near enough current to activate the protection. If Britons think circuit breakers are so unreliable that they need two, why put on on the plug instead of both in the distribution pane?