Harve

I guess this gets jury votes.

What is this trying to do

French commentator saying that Claude is inspired by Stromae which I guess I can see (beyond Benelux artists with African heritage signing a lot about heritage) but I think is a pale imitation.

WINNER

Sea shanty pop has rly engrained hasn't it? It wasn't just a 2021 fad.

Still the least bad song of the 3 propaganda countries.

Belgium i'll at least say that the outfits/colour scheme is cool.

With one exception - and Norway is not it - the Nordics are rly bringing their A game this year.

Portugal feels like the first DOA.

Worst Ukraine entry of the decade but still good.

This might get last place instead. If Zorra did so unfairly poorly then this does not deserve any better.

UK would have plenty fewer last places under their belt if they were required to quality to avoid situations like this. (I don't think UK would finish last in either semi...could easily in the final tho)

This foray has killed my image of Tommy Cash 😢 If only he sent Xray

I don't vibe with it at all but Slovenia could be shock qualifier I reckon.

Also the Icelandic entry wasn't the sort that relied on good vocals I don't think

On paper I should like the Polishcup entry better than I actually do.

That was actually a very fun start I cannot hate

One of the less Reform-friendly archetypal safe Tory seats. If Reform pick this up then the Conservatives's existence is in trouble (which I think we knew already).

How do you format the diagonal bit with the names x

Is Rontvia threatening jihad in Botanikka xx

We don't use that flight number anymore 😬

Late but congrats to Botanikka! I didn't vote it but I voted for the next 3, plus I made the top 10 which I'm very happy about. A little less inspired in terms of artist than my last success, but one of his most chaotically structured and avant garde tracks while still being recognisably Burial, so worth showing off for those reasons I believe! My only entry under 6 minutes this year performed dreadfully whereas the others all made the top 11 which is a sign, sorry to the long song haters xx

Jumped the gun a little on my post as I was still shuffling around the lower points but have made up my mind and you should have received them now ☺️

Voted! I'm not sure if I've ever given my 18 the top spot before and we've both been entering for a very long time.

Clock twice a day etc. I'm in England until the elections and my mum received literature from the Greens and Reform. The Green leaflet was classic local election material about specific local bugbears from the ward's candidate. The Reform leaflet was not the type of campaigning I've seen be posted for local elections - the only person on the leaflet was Farage rather than anyone local, and it was for Derbyshire as a whole. The message was even more generic than that - most likely the same being sent to other councils in England with the county name altered. It mentioned issues that county councils do have control over like potholes alongside mass immigration which anyone reading this will know is not these elections' remit. Fair enough if you want to stamp down your (racist) values I guess. While I'm not pushing the fetishisation of everything in politics having to be rooted in localism, I'll be very interested if we get councils turning Reform and how they are run by a party that's very centralised/national, and has no local governent history. Even competent administrations are having difficulty keeping councils afloat at the moment at the moment. Demographically, Derbyshire is not the most nativist or populist-inclined part of the country but it's a very swingy county with 9 flips from the Tories in 2024 to make all 11 MPs Labour (I think one of a handful of shire counties alongside South Yorkshire and Northumberland to have managed that?), whereas the 2021 election returned a huge Tory majority in the county council.