A PPL started in the UK at this time of the year is likely to prove rather frustrating, and protracted. Unless you get lucky of course...
Nobody (that I know) has the slightest idea whether the current ability to fly a G-reg worldwide VFR on any ICAO PPL will be killed in April 2012.
Currently it appears that it will indeed end, but we already have a definite 2 year derogation on the EASA requirement for mandatory acquisition of EASA papers by all pilots when the "operator" is EU based, and while this has been done mainly as a "finger up to the USA" political gesture by the EU, I cannot immediately (without reading the 1000 pages of EASA garbage) see why this derogation should not cover the situation in the paragraph above.