I was hoping that the future would be like Star Trek, a beautiful high tech paradise where we worked our problems out and live in a post-scarcity world. Instead we're getting Deus Ex, minus the shades and trench coats.
Whelp. North Ireland was Brexited while Ireland is still EU, and that remains still a vector of EU influence on GB (and smuggling goods into EU) so either the borders close and the troubles start all over again or the Irelands reunify.
From the lack of news, I've assumed everyone not near the border has been choosing to not look at it too hard.
Yes. Nuclear winter trades global warming for a tuckfun of even bigger problems.
Volcanic winter is such a pain in the butt, I call shenanigans on the many-years winters allegedly in Westros, which would force them to migrate (or have decades of grain stores, which they totally don't). With modern freight, volcanic winter is less of a problem for industrialized nations, but we still feel it.