Eurovision

It's been some time since Eurovision was on our screens but I have been thinking about it and wanted to do a blog about it. A couple of years ago I was organised and allocated countries to everyone in the family and we supported them and judged how well they would do. It was an entertaining evening complete with unhealthy snacks- Eurovision at it's tacky but compulsive best. I didn't do that this year, partly because it's just so long and waiting for the results is so tedious. But 2 of us did keep track of our top ten songs and looked the following morning to see how they had done. Neither of us had scored the winning song in our own top ten. What had happened? Well, the usual Eurovision craziness during voting, that's what.
The winners, Russia, had submitted their own equivalent of Robbie Williams (Dima Bilan) into the competition and his appeal stretches beyond Russia. It also doesn't escape notice that Russia's many neighbours gave him maximum points. And this is the current day bone of contention- political and partisan voting. For countries such as the UK who have no or few bordering countries, their days of Eurovision success are numbered.
And every year we grumble about it but it's not going to get any better. We're convinced that it's not about the music any more but how can songs realistically be judged one against another?
Also as the UK is one of four countries who pay the most towards the competition (which guarantees us a place in the final) is the time right for us to back away?
Or is that just a little conceited? Haven't we had our time in the sun?
I think we ought to relax a little more and focus on a song that we can be proud of, one that we wouldn't mind seeing in the chart. And then maybe, our chance will come again. Boom bang-a-bang!