If the Earth is cooling then at the very least the Gulf Stream will probably end up transporting less heat energy.
The best explanation for Russian heat waves (which BTW continued into November) and the western European cold snap is blocking, negative Arctic Oscillation which includes a weak polar jet, high pressure over the north pole (instead of low pressure). All of those factors interact.
Piers just mentioned the Russian heat wave as an example for the warming atmospheric temps the globe experienced this summer. He was trying to insinuate, incorrectly I believe, that solar activity was responsible. The Russian heat waves are gone now, as they just recently had a riot at a major Moscow airport due to cold weather related delays. There were many factors in play however contributing to the warm spots. From what I gather, it appears that long term coolers now expect Eastern Europe to follow Western Europe into the cold abyss. Other short term coolers expect a more normal January and February for Western Europe.
A possible underlying cause could be solar since solar UV is very low and that causes blocking. Also low solar magnetic lets more galactic cosmic rays through and those can change the patterns of clouds and also cause blocking in extreme cases.
One of those factors could be the main causation agent. To get those Ice Sheets where they developed during the glacial periods, will require a large amount of temperate to arctic water movement. That liquid water needs to be transported up to the Glacier zones. So I think that at the very least these blocking patterns and the resulting north and south curves in the jet stream do make some sense.
A weak sun means a little less energy, but not only enough for a .1 degree change or so. But the weak sun magnetically means changes in weather patterns which ultimately can result in global cooling. But even if there is cooling from weather, a lot of energy is left in the ocean to keep us warm or warming, so I wouldn't be worried about an ice age just yet.
It is not the Ice Age that worries me or should worry any of these current Governments. If what we are seeing is strictly a natural phenomenon, the historic record shows that all of these governments and all of us will be long gone by the time the Ice starts moving significantly. We should worry about how those changing weather patterns will affect current natural and artificial environments.
Now if this natural cooling phenomenon has been enhanced by some idiotic government cooling programs, then well, history can not be a judge. Our species probably has experienced at least two Ice Age events over the past couple of hundred thousand years. I think it is save to assume however, that none of those very ancient tribes or packs of Homo Sapiens were dumb enough to actually attempt an acceleration or enhancement of the Ice Age natural cooling process.
I am definitely not worried about that. The impetus behind the catastrophic global warming scare is the control of energy and the populace, not spending money on some aerosol project or other cooling mechanism. The invention of ocean "acidification" is just another part of the anti-CO2 agenda.
My only real worry is that many people have been propagandized into the freaky-weather-not-normal so its our fault mindset. There still isn't much support for actual CO2 rationing especially once people figure out the details. But the issue can still be used as a wedge by the anti-capitalists.