though I agree in many cases that neighbourly voting isn't playing such a huge part as people would believe, there is definitely diaspora voting evident, no more so in the results from the UK this year...

 

Semi-Final points:

 

1 - Denmark fair enough, the UK went for the song here

2 - Malta yep, I can see why UK gave 2 points to Malta, energetic Europop!

3 - Albania this is surprising, apparently 200,000 Albanians live in the UK...did they all vote for Olta or did the British public genuinely like this song?

4 - Iceland thought this might have got higher in the UK votes to be fair...its the type of song I'd expect the UK to vote for in large numbers

5 - Latvia this is a combination of Latvian diaspora/the joke vote

6 - Sweden the UK does seem to have a love for Scandinavian music! but did any of the 100,000 Swedes living in Britain vote for Charlotte!?!

7 - Portugal I've never heard of a large Porutgese diaspora in Britain...looks like Portugal got votes for the quality of their song!

8 - Lithuania No more so is diaspora voting more evident than here...this song is absolutely atrocious, there are few British born people in our country who would have voted for this...were ALL Lithuanians living here watching and voting in the second semi final!

10 - Turkey good rock song but I think perhaps without the diaspora votes it may have only got 3 or 4 points from the UK

12 - Cyprus why were we giving points to the countries that nobody else would? I don't know how many Cypriots live in Britain but they must have played a huge part here...I just don't get this 12 at all...

 

Final points

 

1 - Spain more people watched the final so I don't think diaspora voting was as powerful here...Spain got marks because of the song unfortunately

2 - France yep, I can see why this would appeal to UK voters

3 - Denmark interesting to see this get more in the final than the semi, I don't think this vote is anything other than a vote for the song

4 - Poland definitely influenced by the 2 million Poles in Britain...we gave this 4 of its total of 14 points...

5 - Ukraine I don't understand why we didn't vote for this in the semi-final...perhaps we were too busy giving points to diasporas to notice this song

6 - Iceland more for Iceland in the final than the semi! I can see why, it definitely would have got a lot of the gay votes, and this and Ukraine completely stole Charlotte's thunder...I can't actually believe we gave nothing to Sweden in the final!

7 - Norway - A vote for the quality song I do believe!

8 - Turkey - like I said before, I don't believe this would have got as many as 8 without some diaspora influence...Turkey and Greece could literally send anything and get guaranteed points from the UK

10 - Latvia - though I think this got some diaspora votes, I do think this 10 largely came from the joke vote...it would have been voted for by Scooch and Daz fans!

12 - Greece - a great pop song but Greece ALWAYS get massive votes from the UK...however, even without diasporic influence I think it would have got 8 or 10 because it would have appealed to Disney fans

basically...I think diaspora definitely have an influence on UK votes...there is no other way to explain that 8 for Lithuania in the semi

 

but by and large, more than many other countries, the UK do still tend to vote for the songs that they like over political ties...I don't understand why Portugal went from 7 in the semi to nothing in the final though...perhaps all of the Portugese votes went Norway's way on Sautrday night

I agree with all that there Rich. Turkey and Greece - and Cyprus - will continue to get our 12 points for a long, long time, unless Ireland qualify for the final and send something half-decent... Such a shame really. I actually predicted the eight, ten, 12 of our votes in the final correctly as well as Carrie was about to read them out. :(

the only shock for me was Sweden not getting anything...it seems that very few people 'got' Hero not only in the UK but in Europe altogether...either that or like you say, they are bored of the typical Swedish schlager

 

I do wish the Eurovision would return to the days where the most quality song got 12 points from each country not 4-7 points

the only shock for me was Sweden not getting anything...it seems that very few people 'got' Hero not only in the UK but in Europe altogether...either that or like you say, they are bored of the typical Swedish schlager

 

I do wish the Eurovision would return to the days where the most quality song got 12 points from each country not 4-7 points

I know. :( Even in 2003/4 the diaspora voting was pretty unnoticable, but nowadays it dominates just about every single country's votes. Spain giving 12 to Romania is a complete joke too. :manson: They've always given Romania a fair few points, even giving them ten of their overall 16 (?) in 2004 I believe, but giving them 12 this year with a pretty dire song, and with an almost record number of people watching in Spain is a complete joke. :arrr: The neighbourly voting doesn't annoy me much, as there are so many explanations for why they vote for their neighbours, but the diaspora voting pisses me right off. -_-

yep you summed it up David, neighbourly voting is fine as its shared musical styles and tastes etc...but really, if you played the Lithuanian song to 1000 British born people in the UK, I wonder how many would claim to like it...10 perhaps...

 

and of course Ireland gave Lithuania 12 in 2006 and 2007, thanks to diaspora votes...not that 4Fun's Love Or Leave didn't deserve 12 of course :heehee:

I think Cyprus got our 12 in the semi-final for the same reason the Greek entries have been constantly scoring high in the UK - Greek diaspora. The fact that the 12-10-8 went to Cyprus, Turkey and Lithuania in the semi show that there were relatively few votes cast in the semi-final, so diaspora voting had a greater effect. Apart from foreigners living in Britain, a large proportion of the voting was probably from genuine fans of the Contest, which would explain the 7 and 6 for fan favourites Portugal and Sweden, who got nothing in the final, when the voting was much broader and larger in numbers.

 

I can totally understand Sweden not getting anything in the final from the UK - I never thought it would and I think the expectation of alot of British fans was way too high when it came to the possibility of points from the UK for "Hero."

 

As for Ukraine's increase in points, I would put this down to a better draw.

 

Quite amusing to see that Poland's only 14 points came from the UK and Ireland.

Edited May 27, 200817 yr by Peter30

Have you given any points to Russia in previous years? :o

Edited May 27, 200817 yr by Pavel

Have you given any points to Russia in previous years? :o

 

2008 final: 0

2008 semi: n/a

2007 final: 6

2007 semi: n/a

2006 final: 1

2006 semi: 0

2005 final: 0

2005 semi: n/a

2004 final: 0

2004 semi: n/a

2003: 0

2002: 0

2001: 0

2000: 8

 

So you have to go all the way back 2000 to find us giving Russia a decent mark. :o I'm surprised we didn't give Dima more points in 2006 tbh.

I found it shocking that we gave nothing to tATu...we wrecked their chances of winning!

Ironic as well that the UK and Ireland were the only two countries not to give them anything! The same year that they'd had huge success in both countries with 'All the Things She Said'!

Ironic as well that the UK and Ireland were the only two countries not to give them anything! The same year that they'd had huge success in both countries with 'All the Things She Said'!

 

Although Ireland has a problem with the televoting, so a back-up jury was used. Possibly playing a big part in tATu's loss and also depriving us of the few points we may have gotten for Jemini!

Although Ireland has a problem with the televoting, so a back-up jury was used. Possibly playing a big part in tATu's loss and also depriving us of the few points we may have gotten for Jemini!

Oh yes I remember that. I read somewhere though that Turkey would still have won, and tATu would've been second. Jemini also didn't get anything from their televote! :(

I was shocked at no points for tATu David...wasn't Not Gonna Get Us in the UK top 10 at the time as well!?! Ne'Ver Ne Bosjia was a poor song though by their standards...all of their UK singles have been far better

Yeah actually I would've thought we'd have given them something fairly high. They were pretty bad attention seekers though I seem to remember before the contest. :(

they said something hideous about Lou...something about her having had more men than they'd had vodkas :rofl:

i'm glad they didnt win, Sertab had the best song :D

they said something hideous about Lou...something about her having had more men than they'd had vodkas :rofl:

LOL Lou. :rofl: She was a funny looking lady. :heehee: Haha that song was so bad it was good!

i'm glad they didnt win, Sertab had the best song :D

 

it would have been a terrible winner, but then again, so was Sertab in my eyes...

 

but I hated the entire top 3 that year, it was very disappointing for me...I thought Iceland or Romania should have won

LOL Lou. :rofl: She was a funny looking lady. :heehee: Haha that song was so bad it was good!

 

she was :lol: the song was utter cheese but I actually voted for it! I don't remember why because I didn't even chart the song, I think it was a joke vote :heehee: