As for "nobody will do WVR because nobody's done it in XX years": Nope, nobody has because there has not been anything like a peer-to-peer air conflict. In those situations (particularly where only one side has AWACS) engagements are more likely to get decided BVR, and the other side avoids WVR because they don't want to die. So the absence of WVR is situational and not an eternal truth.
Aaaaah, we're finally drilling down to reality. The F-35 is not nor was it ever intended to be an air superiority fighter. If an air arm that flies F-35 exclusively has to go up against an air arm that has modern air superiority fighters (and by that I mean has stealth, has multispectral sensors, has sensor fusion, has helmet sighting/cueing systems, and has off bore sight air-to-air weapons, AND has high maneuverability - does this pedantic description satisfy those who cannot abide the term "5th generation"?) then it is NOT a "peer-to-peer air conflict."
If the Royal Navy wants to go up against such a foe, they need more than the F-35. Sadly, their carriers can't handle anything other than the F-35. That does not make the F-35 defective.