Right, I've slept on this. OP If you are even still reading this, here is my honest response on a topic that it important to me. I'm not going to sell you England, but I am going to speak honestly about what it means to live in another country. This is not just my opinion, it is based on my own experiences, other members of my family's experiences and some close friends. The countries I've known people to move to include US, Canada, Aus, NZ, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, the UAE, the Carribbean South Africa, Colombia, Finland, Sweden and Germany.
When moving abroad you have two choices - an English based culture or a non-English based culture. If you choose an English based culture i.e. America, Canada, South Africa, the Carribean, New Zealand, Australia - you will not get away from many of the things you have complained about in England. The education systems are the same or very similar, celebrity culture is the same if not worse, the sponsporship of events certainly won't change, major cities the world over are grid locked, the big cities that have public transport are the same type of systems, many of these countries have the Union Jack on their flag anyway, and the same monarch. So this is a moot point, and you'd only be immigrating to escape the weather. And assuming you want to stay in a first world culture, its off to Australia or the southern USA for you then, as everywhere else has as shitty, if not worse, weather than us.
Should you choose to enter a different culture - be very careful that what you are imagining is the reality of living there. Most cultures are very unwelcoming of people that do things differently to them. Think of how the non-English speaking immigrants are treated in the UK, and realise that this is how you will be treated if you try and integrate yourself into a non-English speaking country. They are polite and friendly when you are a tourist, but when you permanently try and live in their society, it is a different story. Most British immigrants in these sorts of countries wind up joining ex-pat clubs, sending their children to the British international schools and only making friends with other expats. Also expect all your qualifications and work experience to suddenly count for nothing, as your University and previous employers will mean nothing, so prepare to start at the bottom. Just as their are people with MBAs from Eastern Europe working behind our shop counters. Added to this, there is xenophobia and a strong resistance to immigrants in a lot of European countries, ala the BNP (see the recent shootings in Norway). Realise that you will be the foreigner, taking away the locals jobs as it were. Also imagine please doing your tax in a foreign language, visiting the emergency room with a sick child in a foreign language and culture, going to a parent's evening where you don't know what the teacher is saying...
Finally immigrating is the most financially devastating thing you can do. Realise what you are suggesting. Selling up your home, cashing in your pension, shipping all your stuff to another country, and selling it and buying new on the other side. This is horrendously expensive. You are also talking your kids away from absolutely everything and everyone they know, and putting them into a completely different education system where they will stick out like sore thumbs.
I'm sorry to seem harsh - I am not anti-immigration and making a new and better life for yourself and your family somewhere else - but it is not a simple or easy thing. It is a massive decision, with long reaching consequences and should not be undertaken because you are upset that coke is sponsoring the Olympics or that Just Call Me Dave is a pillock. Instead, why not try making a difference here, making England a better place to live, protest what you don't like, support those that you do. And compare apples with apples. If you don't like living in the city, don't be mentally comparing central London to rural France. You have to compare central London to central Paris, or downtown Amsterdam etc. And if you want to get out of the city, you can do that within the UK...
Apologies for essay. Rant over, Dances climbs off her soap box now and skulks off to do some work...