re: #18 Eclectic Cyborg

Speaking long term, does this ultimately end with the UK rejoining the EU?

I doubt it. A scrambled egg cannot be undone.

Now, perhaps some many years in the future, when the cascading disasters of the 21st century really start to cause major international political changes, I suspect that the Northern Ireland arrangement as part of the UK will be untenable.

But they’ve got a ways to go before that. They will need real hardship, not just inconveniences, for the political landscape to change.

I do believe the day will come when Brits will have to make a hard decision on nationhood. The island(s) are just too small for the population to sustain itself, and if the future holds the collapse of international on-demand trade (including currencies), as some expect later in this century, the Brits will be in a corner.

Unlike here in North America, where we can go from crisis to crisis, which will be bad but not existentially threatening, island nations will find themselves moving towards desperation.

The control of food and fresh water is now the name of the game globally. I certainly expect by 2050 that this will all become obvious.