Eurovision Smerovision
Eurovision. The musical extravaganza that visits the shores of the UK once a year.
Born in 1956, in the era of war-torn Europe, presumably as an attempt to bring the previously disparate countries together through song.
Originally it was taken seriously in the UK, as far as I can tell. With contestants being chart-toppers of the time with the likes of Cliff Richards. However, somewhere along the line, the UK decided that the contest wasn't actually a valid place to showcase actual musical taste or talent in the UK, other than camp-pop.
This lead to increased popularity in the younger generations, seeing Eurovision as a camp-party.
However, along with Terry Wogan, I'm beginning to think that the party atmosphere has come to an end, with last night's contest becoming nothing more than a farce. Now, I'll admit that if we're not actually taking the contest seriously, then we don't deserve to be considered a serious contender. However, the general publics' view is at least that the contest is a bit of fun, and if we DO enter a contestant with any quality then there's an accepted expectation that we'd get some votes.
And here's the kicker - that's not the case any more. With the introduction of televoting, the competition has become no more than a playground block-voting farce, with the newly entered eastern european countries voting for each other. Bitter much? Well, yes, I am. I used to enjoy this one night a year, it was a time of fun and frolics, but not anymore.
This year's entry from the UK wasn't the best, but it certainly wasn't the worst and we came last. I've come to think that it wouldn't matter if we put Take That or Coldplay up on the stage, we'd still get nil points from most. And why? Because of the Iraq War? Because of the newly emerging eastern european states deciding that Europe doesn't include western Europe?
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I miss the old days of this competition as the new days mean nil points for the UK. I think it might be time to hang up my euro-glitter-dancing shoes and Terry might be coming with me.