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"The next time I die I probably won't come back, so I'm going now" - Dying and following your dreams

Michael Finn suffered a massive heart attack two years ago – since then, his life has changed.

unnamed Michael Finn at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya Michael Finn Michael Finn

MICHAEL FINN HAS already died three times – or so he’s been told.

The first time was in a hotel in Drogheda. The other two were in hospital beds.

Michael used to be wedding photographer, and on 14 November 2014 he was finishing up a job in Drogheda when he experienced shooting pains in his arms.

He rang his wife Christina and told her to get their son Niall to collect him.

“I’ve pains in my two arms and I can’t drive,” he said.

Michael ran back to the hotel where the wedding was taking place and collapsed in the lobby.

There was a nurse in the lobby of the hotel and a doctor eating dinner in the restaurant.

Both performed CPR on Michael for 40 minutes – well over the normal time spent on the life-supporting action.

“After that, I spent the next five weeks in a coma,” says Michael.

My chances of survival were put at 1%.

That was the first time Michael died – in the lobby of a hotel.

It took incredible luck and the strenuous work of two healthcare professionals to ensure it wouldn’t be the last.

No memory

Michael had suffered from a massive heart attack in Drogheda.

He spent the next five weeks in an induced coma being moved from hospital to hospital.

The next time he died was in the Mater Hospital while they were trying to put a stent into his heart.

Michael doesn’t remember any of this – he doesn’t remember the entirety of the November or most of December, all he knows of the heart attack and after is is what he’s been told by others.

There were times he woke up, others say, but he can’t remember any of them.

A video taken of Michael two and a half weeks into his coma shows him sitting up and talking.

“I’m speaking in the video but I’ve no recollection of this,” he says.

“I actually make a very strange comment – I actually say ‘This is the first time I’ve spoken since the accident’.

So, obviously somewhere in my head I thought that I’d had an accident.

Not only were his chances of survival slim – the possibility of Michael waking up without some serious brain damage as a result of the heart attack were even smaller.

Recovery

The third time Michael died was after a minor heart attack while at Tallaght Hospital, but somehow he recovered, woke up, and was home from the hospital by Christmas.

From there, as he began his recovery – Michael resolved to change his life.

“Since then, my whole attitude to life has changed,” he says.

He started a bucket list of things he had to do before he died for good. Having put it off for too long before, Michael resolved not to let his dreams pass him by.

“At this stage I could barely walk… but I had to do something,” he says.

In October of last year, despite the warnings of healthcare professionals, he took a solo trip to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

“Everyone said you had to wait two years to travel from the time you had the heart attack,” says Michael.

“But I said fuck that for a game of soldiers – I’m not waiting.

The next time I die I probably won’t come back – so I’m going now.

He travelled alone to the Maasai Mara and lived his dream of photographing the wildlife there.

lion-cub-maasai-mara Pictures from Michael's trip to Kenya

Michael says that it was yet another “life-changing” experience in a year that was full of them – after dying three times and following his dream, his life was changed for ever.

buffalo-maasai-mara-kenya

He no longer works as a wedding photographer – the stress of the job would be too much on his already weakened heart.

Money is tight, but he is getting by.

From publishing books of travel and photography, to collaborating on musical projects – Michael has plenty of plans for the time he has left.

“There’s lots of other stuff… but I’m not willing to talk about it just yet,” he says.

It changes your attitude towards life – it’s more important to enjoy life than to spend time worrying.

Humans of Dublin

Michael’s is just one story of the many collected by Hungarian photographer Peter Varga for the Humans of Dublin Facebook page.

Inspired by the similar Humans of New York project, Humans of Dublin is photography and essay project started three years ago – it photographs people around the city and gives excerpts of important moments from their lives.

Michael Finn Michael as pictured by Peter Varga Humans of Dublin Humans of Dublin

The photography project will feature as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin.

A “human library” is being set up today out of Tamp & Stitch in Temple Bar from 2pm to 4pm today.

People will be able to meet Michael and others featured on the Humans of Dublin page. They will be able to chat with them, hear their stories and maybe tell their own.

“I don’t need to walk hours for a great story,” Varga says.

There are so many around us and we walk by them every day not knowing.

You can read more and view the pictures from Michael’s trip to Kenya here

Read: Here’s why Humans of Dublin is the best Facebook page in Ireland

Read: This lovely Humans of Dublin post about the kindness of strangers is warming everyone’s heart

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18 Comments
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    Mute Rosa Parks
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    Jan 7th 2017, 7:58 AM

    “Anti immigrant” or just anti immigration? I am.against open borders but I’m not against migrants as people.

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    Mute Donal O'Brien
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:17 AM

    That’s very reassuring.

    24
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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:36 AM

    No, anti-immigrant Rosa. Wilders is undeniably anti the immigrants. Le Pen plays,a good hand to stay on the right side of the law but she is also anti immigrant (and her Dad, the founder of her party, is a holocaust denier and white supremacist). AfD campaigns on an anti-immigration policy platform, but many of its members are anti-immigrant.

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    Mute Scarlett Milton
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    Jan 7th 2017, 2:38 PM

    @Rosa Parks: Is that you Jarry

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    Mute Joe Arthur
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    Jan 7th 2017, 5:57 PM

    Sounds like a classic case of “I’m not racist, but…”

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:20 AM

    This is Europe’s last chance, we have very little time left to halt the Islamic takeover.
    Thank God for these brave patriots.

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    Mute Neil Mcdonough
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:23 AM

    @Eamon Mac Gowan: Jeez . . . do you ever listen to what you’re saying? It’s beyond farcical . . .

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:49 AM

    @Neil Mcdonough: What did I say that wasn’t true?

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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:53 AM

    Well to start, the Islamic takeover. What Islamic takeover? What is the Muslim population of Europe as a percentage of the total? What is the Muslim population of Ireland? I will assume that a lack of response means you don’t know.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:58 AM
    89
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    Mute Maurice Bourke
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:58 AM

    Fearmonger

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 10:04 AM

    @Maurice Bourke: No, just pointing out facts.

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    Mute Mike
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    Jan 7th 2017, 11:26 AM

    @Maurice Bourke: Yes Maurice, the truth is very scary indeed.

    61
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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 11:51 AM

    There were only 7500 babies born in the UK last year. Or Muslim parents are not very imaginative with the names they give? You do know there were close to 800000 live births in the UK in 2015 which means that less than 1% of babies born in Britain were called Muhammed or some variation of that name. Some takeover. And what is the Muslim population of Britain as percentage of the total? About 4.5%. Just like the Catholic population of Ireland is 92%.

    16
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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 11:53 AM

    Selective use of facts is a distortion of the facts and that makes it a lie.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 11:58 AM

    @HOTBank: You have your head in the sand and are living in your own reality.
    No point in even trying to reason with you.

    40
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    Mute Guybrush Threepwood
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    Jan 7th 2017, 12:25 PM

    @Eamon Mac Gowan: In fairness, you were just given facts on a topic you brought up yourself. Instead of challenging them, you’ve run off instead. Yet you talk about ‘reason’.

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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 12:28 PM

    I am presenting you with facts n the 95.5 % of the population of the UK is not Muslim. 99% of the babies born in the UK are not called Muhammad. Where is the takeover? What are you frightened of? Is your culture, your belief system, your will so pathetic, so weak, so incapable that you are going to be overwhelmed by such a tiny number of people. No wonder you folk use terms like snowflake – you relate to their fragile delicacy.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 2:11 PM

    @HOTBank: They have far higher birthrates and huge numbers are coming here.

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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 2:57 PM

    What are their birthrates and what are the numbers coming, in real terms? Ireland agreed to take 4000 refugees from the latest crisis. Not all of them are Muslims. That is less than one person for every thousand Irish people in this State and it includes children. 1.5M refugees came into Europe in 2015. That is less than 3 for every 1000 Europeans. So where is the takeover?

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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 2:59 PM

    So Eamon as you have not responded I take it you do believe your culture, belief system etc are weak and pathetic?

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 5:55 PM

    @HOTBank: Or I might have other things to do than argue with a brainwashed idealogue such as yourself.

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    Mute Guybrush Threepwood
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    Jan 8th 2017, 6:29 AM

    @Eamon Mac Gowan: Come out from under that bed, Eamon. The Muzzis aren’t coming to get you.

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    Mute Mike
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:30 AM

    The sad case for Ireland is that those of us that dread and fear “more EU” have to sit and watch, hoping that France, Holland or Germany vote in anti EU parties. While the current system with free trade minus the open borders would be close to ideal for most in the EU, the EURO has been a disaster for most of the EU. It pretty much only suits Germany, as it was designed to. If the election of Le Pen hastens the demise of the EURO all the better. Also looking at Le Pen’s immigration policies, I think if we had the proportion of Islamic violence in Ireland we’d be looking at that too. We’re making a mistake by letting in the Syrian migrants, but there’s no way of anyone saying this publicly in Ireland without being attacked.

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    Mute Neil Mcdonough
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:21 AM

    @Mike: Why is it a mistake? Don’t worry Mike, you won’t be attacked . . . at least not with bombs and bullets and the rest . . .

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    Mute TurloughC
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:51 AM

    Mike the Euro isn’t going anywhere. It’s picked up in the markets and the Italian referendum has barely a blip affect.
    A recent Gallup poll put Ireland at 80% satisfaction with the EU. You’ll have to make better arguments than you are making to change that

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    Mute Mike
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    Jan 7th 2017, 11:37 AM

    @Neil Mcdonough: Neil, the chance on average or being the victim of a terrorist attack even in Germany is minuscule. The chance of a country having increased sexual assaults and increased terrorist attacks after letting in large numbers of middle eastern/Aisan/African migrants seems to be 100%. As I am a guy, I’m not worried about being sexually assaulted by an immigrant as I walk down the street alone. However women pay a disproportionate price for uncontrolled migration into western countries.

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    Mute Mike
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    Jan 7th 2017, 11:46 AM

    @TurloughC: There is no Gallup poll in the last year or 3 with 80% Irish satisfaction with the EU. You are making that up. I suppose it’s easier to fantasize and make up stuff than argue a point.

    The Euro picking up this week and going down next week isn’t the point. I’m saying it’s simply in Ireland’s interests not to be in the Eurozone. If France do leave the Eurozone then it may well collapse quickly. Italy would be nuts to stay in the Eurozone in it’s current form, they have been destroyed by it. There’s options available to make the Euro project sustainable but it seems they are all unpalatable. In fact every option including keeping the status quo is unpalatable to probably most people.

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    Mute TurloughC
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    Jan 7th 2017, 1:53 PM

    There you go: this Gallup poll puts Ireland at 80% satisfaction with EU and the EU at highest rate in decades overall .

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    Mute tom
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    Jan 7th 2017, 3:28 PM

    Put it to the public to vote there be no 80% for EU

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    Mute Mike
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    Jan 7th 2017, 3:34 PM

    @TurloughC: I am 100% dissatisfied with you pretending to have found a Gallup poll with a result giving 80% satisfaction with the EU in Ireland.

    I’m close to flat out calling you a liar but we’ll see… Here’s a poll for you: Eurobarometer showing that the 2 issues of most concern to Europeans are immigration and terrorism.

    http://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/Survey/getSurveyDetail/instruments/STANDARD/surveyKy/2137 Also about only 36% of Europeans trust the EU.

    I could have just made it up rather than looking it up, but I’ll leave the dreamland fiction troll posts to to you.

    14
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    Mute Blue MARIGOLD
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:22 AM

    It is Wilders’ time. He has bravely confronted the horrors of Islam for many years and his impending triumph will set the tone for the rest of the year. In five years the Netherlands and UK will be non EU states and the European “project” will be in it’s death throes.

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:26 AM

    I always have the feeling with Wilders that there is an element of opportunism as much as any core belief. He was an unremarkable representative of a fairly conventional party (probably the equivalent of the PDs) and only went down his far-right line after the assassination of Pim Fortuyn. He saw a gap in the market. Fortuyn was probably the more dangerous person in that he was quite charismatic and could present himself as very reasonable. Wilders comes across as a bit of an egomaniac.

    12
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    Mute Val Martin
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:21 AM

    Churchill said democracy is the worst form of government except every other form that was tried. I agree. It is for this reason that I spend so long informing citizens of what I know. I do it by word of mouth, on social media and occasionally by letter to the papers.

    RTE thought they could avoid me by interviewing other people with less knowledge than I. But I got to that by educating them all and they viewed my videos valmartinireland you tube. https://www.youtube.com/user/ValMartinIreland

    So its not that I support any fascist policies, I support the welfare state, but insist of fair play and accountability. If the world has to undergo a political correction then it is better than continuing with the present rotten corruption

    58
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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:29 AM

    Very good of you Val to make such a great effort. Must check out that you tube material. (Smirks).

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    Mute James Guinan
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:32 AM

    You haven’t made a video in four years and have only 36 subs, you are not informing many people via that platform, certainly not recently.

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:21 AM

    This concentrates on the far-right and misses the real main story of the election – the collapse of the centre-left. The PvdA in The Netherlands, SPD in Germany and Socialists in France were once one of the two natural parties of government. Now, they can’t get to 20% in the polls. Seeing that the far-right and far-left haven’t shown signs of taking power in any of these countries, it essentially locks in centre-right government for the foreseeable future. The implications of this are far greater than the implications of the drift of some of the centre-left’s support to the far-right, which is what this article salivates over.

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    Mute Willy Malone
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    Jan 7th 2017, 10:57 AM

    Europe be history 2019

    27
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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:31 AM

    So the political earthquakes are that we will have a conventional Christian democrat returned in France, a conventional anti Wilders coalition in the Netherlands and a new coalition led by Angela Merkel in Germany? Some earthquake.

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    Mute Maurice Bourke
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:56 AM

    That is if the pollsters are right this far from the elections. Another attack in Paris etc could change all of it. Don’t know how Germany could vote for Merkel again.

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    Mute HOTBank
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:55 AM

    She is still the most popular party leader in Germany.

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    Mute Peter Mc Hugh
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:08 AM

    Nonsense article, written to frighten people. The sky is not falling down Chicken Licken. Similar pap was being said before the Austrian election, how quickly we forget… France, Germany and Holland will not be sending individual representatives to negotiate Brexit, the bulk of negotiations will be carried out by the commission. Le Pen has back tracked on pulling out of the Euro and EU only this week, instead wanting to examine the treaties. Holland are massively in favour of remaining inside the EU. The Brexit vote has caused an upsurge in support for the EU. Meanwhile, you state yourself that Merkel will remain in power. So why is that news? Her party are not the largest party as is, but no one wants her job.

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    Mute TurloughC
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:47 AM

    This week LePen back tracked on EU membership and even Eurozone membership citing a possible return to ECU or similar. Independent Macon has knocked her in to third in some polls. The Russian bank who lent her 9 million a few years ago won’t lend her more and are taking legal action to get that money back. Fillon is pro Putin so Russia are happy to back him. If French vote tactically she might not make the finals. She has recently been forced to deny Putin ties. Russian affiliations are starting to be millstones around people’s necks. Fillon may suffer on a one to one with young Macon who has less establishment ties and no Putin ties.

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    Mute Wodanaz von Mises
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    Jan 7th 2017, 8:16 AM

    Just another batch of professional pharisees that have been sitting in pluche seats spouting sh*t on taxpayer money their whole life. Politicians gonna politician. Nothing special or different about this lot.

    6
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    Mute Neil Mcdonough
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    Jan 7th 2017, 9:17 AM

    ‘Earthquake’. Exactly. You’d think that’s what some people want. Without really reflecting on what earthquakes are and the destruction they bring. I’m not sensing any desire for that here in France and if the young come out and vote, no anti-European candidate will have a hope in hell of winning. Naturally, a media that thrives on doom and gloom will make it as sensationalist as possible, but I don’t think the people of Europe are ready yet to see the whole edifice implode.

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    Mute Valthebear
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    Jan 7th 2017, 10:00 AM

    @Neil The question we should be asking is why the young don’t come out to vote. With the marriage referendum here recently, great talk of ‘equality’ was bandied about. It didn’t materialise in housing or wages though. Careful what you wish for. The centre left’s preoccupation with social issues, refugees etc has annoyed many people, especially as they see friends and families emigrate, living standards decline and refugees offered accommodation while they themselves can’t afford rent or mortgages. If anything we are underestimating the resentment out there. And it is not mere uninformed ‘populism’ . People nowadays are more informed and more politically aware thanks to technology. Brexit and Trump voters were not idiots despite that narrative being pushed by many in mainstream media. When the young do eventually come out to vote it will not be for the tired old establishment hacks.

    31
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    Mute Neil Mcdonough
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    Jan 7th 2017, 10:21 AM

    @Valthebear: I don’t entirely disagree with you, except to say we are where we are thanks to the entire political establishment, all of them. You have to get out of the ‘never-ending progress’ fallacy. What goes around comes around, Brexit and Trump offered ‘let’s make this country great again’ but I suppose even intelligent people still haven’t woken up to the reality that the world has moved on from former powers greatness. It depends if you want to look forwards into a less comfortable and secure future, the way the world always was really, or backwards to something that has gone . . .

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    Mute Fíachra Kelly-McElroy
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    Jan 7th 2017, 3:18 PM

    Wilders will increase vote and add a few seats but Dutch system of PR and diversity of parties limits individual party influence. They can be the largest party, but does not mean they’ll be in government (without coalition with moderates) nor is it a political earthquake a la Trump- PVV have been around for ages. Le Pen will not win in second round, FN has its own infighting with the more far-right elements in the party and huge debts to Russian banks (not a conspiracy) leading to real campaign funding problems. What ever you think of the increase in FN vote, leftists and Les Republicans supporters combined easily outnumer that. AfD will gain seats no doubt, but nowhere near enough to even be in contention for governing Germany. Obviously there is an increase in anti-immigration and eurosceptic sentiment but why conflate systems that are so different? They will not be in government, the best chance of a new eurosceptic government in Europe is M5S in Italy and they wont have an election any time soon… I get that polls were wrong in UK/US but the margins were very tight anyway. Theres a huge difference between being ~5% wrong but the levels needed in these elections are way beyond that unless of course something huge changes in the interim

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    Mute Brendan Crowe
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    Jan 8th 2017, 5:56 AM

    A sewer. F%k this comments section, it’s verbal aids

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    Mute Alex Falcone
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    Jan 7th 2017, 4:50 PM

    Line up the dominoes.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jan 7th 2017, 2:29 PM

    Bye bye EU? What then especially with the Euro? Are we prepared?

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    Mute Pat Whelan
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    Mar 31st 2017, 6:44 PM

    I bet if the people of Ireland asked for a referendum on EU exit there’s no way they would allow it to happen I am in the public transport business and most of the people I talk to say they would love to get out of the EU

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