misterpop

I don't think the Big 4 give money just to be sure one day they're going to win. They just give money because they are the richest countries as far as television is concerned, and they've been taking part since the begining. And they probably just like to be in the contest, no matter how they are humiliated every year... If Italy was still taking part, it'd be the Big 5. But maybe it's time they decided to take part in the semi-finals and take real risks. But I know that France would not screen the final if they were missing. We don't broadcast the semi-finals. Don't forget the UK and France are the two most successful countries in the history of the ESC (51 participations): Victories: 5 each. TOP 2: 9 (Fr) - 20 UK TOP 5: 25 (Fr) - 29 (UK) TOP 10: 34 (Fr) - 41 (UK) Things dramatically changed from 2005, for both countries...

I agree with you!

Of course, Greece is in the South-East of Europe!!!!! What I meant is that it wasn't in the Eastern Bloc, when the USSR still existed. Greece has been in the EEC, now the European Union since 1981. It has always been considered a Western country, not Eastern. That's the only thing I meant... I know my physical geography, thanx! :o)

Hello, I'm French, and I watched the contest yesterday, as I have for years now. RabbitFurCoat, I agree with you, I'd say 90% of what you say is true. The UK is the world's best place for discovering musical talents in very different styles. I've always been a big fan of British music, and I'll always be. But it's true that as far as the ESC is concerned they don't get the point!!! How would the UK ever be in the TOP 10 with such non-sense songs? Andy Abraham is actually a very good singer, but throughout his song, we could say "where's the tune"???? Its was not a good song, although I do think it was much better than last year's Scooch, probably the worst British entry of all time. Let's talk about France now. The last time we were in the TOP 5, was in 2002. Since, we had sent completely awful songs, which I don't even remember! Last year we decided to send a rock group. It was a fun song, because I guess we were fed up with taking the Contest too seriously (although much of the French haven't cared for it for years!). Of course, the song was a failure (and actually was bad!) and we finished at the bottom. This year we sent Sebastien tellier, an excellent artist, which is quite "famous", on the electronic scene. His song, I think, was excellent and would have deserved a higher place. But I guess it was too "underground", not easy. When you say people actually vote for good songs, I only partially agree with you. The songs in the TOP 3 were definitely not my type of songs. But I agree they were very catchy, very pop, and I agree when you say Russia sent a megastar. My choice would've been Norway, because of its soul-Amy Winehouse-although-typically-sing-along-pop-Eurovision (the old way, way back in the 70's). The song would've won 10-15 years ago. Let's face it, nowadays, there's a ratio problem. There's always been diaspora voting. I'd rather call it diaspora than political. It has nothing to do with politics, just about minorities living in a neighbour country. That's it. Scandinavian countries have always given points to each other. Think about Cyprus and Greece. Germany give points to Turkey. Even France give points to Portugal. It's always been like this, especially since televoting was instaured. The difference now, is that more and more countries do so. Think about Yugoslavia and all the countries that were created since its partition. And think about Russia and all the countries that belonged to the USSR... I really think there's a problem of regional tastes (as you said), and a problem of how good a song is, but the main problem is diaspora voting, because if you take the Norwegian entry, it always got points, but very often 5-6 points, because the 8-10-12 were reserved for diaspora voting. Imagine you are Russian, and you live in Ukraine... You give your 12 points to Russia, of course! It's the same if you are Swedish and you live in Norway. BUT Greece is NOT an Eastern country, and went into the Top 3. Her song was catchy for the majority of countries (I say it was awfully camp!) and thus deserved her place, full stop. The Russian entry had votes from most of the countries, thus also deserved his place. The diaspora voting only accelerated the process. Maybe the TOP 5 would have been in another order, but I guess it wouldn't have been really different. I guess Greece or Norway might have won. There's just no way of changing it. The only point would be to re-instaure jury voting, but as texts bring money, they will never change it! That would be the only way things could be fair again. But still, people can vote for anybody, neighbours or not. I don't like the way Terry Wogan reacted, and how lots of people agreed with him. It can get very xenophobiac. The UK just has to really send a good entry to change the trends. And anyway, taking part is the main point, getting a good place is better, but winning is reserved for ONE country, so there will always be 1/25 chance for it! It's true that I miss some countries which were in a long time ago (Italy, Luxembourg, etc...). But the Contest has changed and every year people say one or more of the Big 4 will drop, but they're still in. Eventually they may drop, but for the wrong reasons. And don't forget the UK hasn't won since 1997, we haven't for 31 years!!! And we were even deprived of or joint-victory in 1991! Au revoir et à bientôt.