Often, I find myself wanting to compare my birth country unfavourably with my adopted one. So I begin, "In Ireland...." But then I realise what goes for Ireland more often than not goes for Britain too, so I say "No, in Britain and Ireland...." At this point I realise that what I'm about to say is true for the Anglophone world in general. "In Britain and Ireland and America...." These nations, and Australia too, if what Germaine Greer says is anything to go by, have so many characteristics in common -- such as insularity, lack of curiosity about anything going on outside the national borders, alcoholism being seen as a desirable lifestyle option, poor social planning, puritanism, perversely ugly living environments, obsession with mortgages and private ownership, lack of a successful indigenous cuisine, rampant obesity, general lameness about everything -- that I often want to consider them as a single unit. But what to call this unit?
Orwell's "Oceania" covers the right geographical area but is too easy to confuse with the real Oceania. "The Anglophone World" is also reasonably accurate, but too cumbersome a phrase. The obvious solution is to take inspiration from history. "The British Empire" in this sense may not be the most precise description -- since I'm not referring to the African or Asian parts of the empire, and since I still hold out some hope for Canada -- but it does have the bonus of being maximally insulting, both to the former colonies I refer to, and to the British, since I use the term in an entirely derogatory sense.
Needless to say, when I use this term it is as a member of said empire, albeit a reluctant one.