Eurovision - is it time to give up?

WormThatTurned wrote:

fizzywizzy wrote:

If the Uk is going to pull out of the Eurovision Song Contest then I insist that Newcastle pull out of the FA cup - we won it several times in the 1950s and therefore we are better than anyone else taking part. We have nothing to prove and there is no point in us taking part if we are not going to win it.....

I dont think the U.K are better than anyone else just because we have won it in the past. Your just generalizing again that because Im for us pulling out that I must think that.

If the political voting went our way then many of the people complaining now would not be complaining at all.

Basically I think that, given the very low quality of the UK entry, it is pretty hard to say whether we could have done any better if the countries of eastern Europe - especially the former Yugoslavia - had not voted for each other.

Nobody in that part of Europe knows who Scooch is (who would want to) but they do tend to know the entrants fielded from those countries - they tend to send established performers who are well known not just in their home country but in neighbouring ones too.

I have yet to hear anyone give a benefit for the UK pulling out. Any takers?

We get an automatic place because we invented the contest and we still pay more than most of the 'old' countries and certainly a lot more than the new ones.

Germany pulled out for a few years - nobody cared or noticed. I don't think we should either. It's all a bit of fun - it's not the real world after all.

Oh and let's get back to the issue of racism - we are not better nor worse than most of the countries in the competition.

BUT we are not self-inflating our opinion of our role in world issues. We are still the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world with consideral impact and influence. In our normal self-deprecatingly British way we tend to forget that on the global stage we are a big player and we box about our weight.

lisa2062 wrote:

Does anybody actually believe that If our entry had the best dance act and voices of all time we'd win? I certainly don't, and believe that the majority of countries will always vote for their neighbours no matter what their opinion on the song. I catch it every year out of habit I suppose, but realise that it's just got far too political and should be scrapped. Lisa x

I think it would stand a good chance.

What we seem to forget is that the political voting only gets you so far. On the night it is true that the Serbian song got high votes from it neighbours BUT it also got high votes from other countries not directly connected to it otherwise it couldn't win.

Often the voting is such that the neighbours get most of the high votes and THEN the better songs get the rest of the high votes. If there is one song that is outstanding and appeals to the European taste it will get high votes from a good spread of countries and it will stand a good chance of winning, this happened with Finland last year.

koshkha wrote:

We get an automatic place because we invented the contest and we still pay more than most of the 'old' countries and certainly a lot more than the new ones.

Germany pulled out for a few years - nobody cared or noticed. I don't think we should either. It's all a bit of fun - it's not the real world after all.

Oh and let's get back to the issue of racism - we are not better nor worse than most of the countries in the competition.

BUT we are not self-inflating our opinion of our role in world issues. We are still the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world with consideral impact and influence. In our normal self-deprecatingly British way we tend to forget that on the global stage we are a big player and we box about our weight.

I do think that lots of peple seem to have an inflated sense of our importance as far as this contest goes - otherwise why suggest pulling out?

Nobody NEEDS to take part or, indeed, to win. It will not boost the prfile of Serbian pop music to have won this, it's not at is winning makes you a big star these days. But it is fun...and we acn usually guess the awarding of points before its done. We are European after all so why not just have a little laugh to ourselves and enjoy the event? It does no damage to the UK to take part and not do well

Personally I think Scooch was rubbish along with a lot of the other stuff I saw. The best song I saw all night was from Georgia.

Terry Wogan wrote in The Guardian that the old Western countries should form a rival cartel to balance up the voting swing.

Personally I think that would just make it even more of a mockery.

Terry Wogan should get a life - it's only a bit of fun.

I think the amount of messages in this subject and the depth of the conversation about it shows that there is a lot of interest in the contest, even if it is both negative and positive. When it comes down to it you are all talking about it, and presumably all watched it, so that is as good a point as any for still entering it

Ailran wrote:

I think the amount of messages in this subject and the depth of the conversation about it shows that there is a lot of interest in the contest, even if it is both negative and positive. When it comes down to it you are all talking about it, and presumably all watched it, so that is as good a point as any for still entering it

Hurrah!

I used to enjoy watching it whether we won or not so I'd like to see the U.K participate however I just watch it with utter contempt now. Not because were not winning but at what it's become.

i always watched it with utter contempt...nothing different for me! A few different cliques dont change my view!

Perhaps we should get someone from the former Yugoslavia to represent the Uk next time - after all only the songwriter has to be from the UK....

Seriously - the voting always was political it's just that now there are so many new countries from a aprticular part of Europe that it looks worse.

Let's just join in and have fun - safe in the knowledge that the true talent from the UK is what sells in buckletloads all over the world, not just Europe

koshkha wrote:

We played 'where have I heard that song before?' - Sweden had a boppy little T-Rex meets Bay City Rollers number that had our heads buzzing to link it to the originals.

I suppose the nice thing is that it proved that your singers don't have to be 6 feet tall with stunning looks and an amazing frock - you can win with someone who looks like (note I said 'looks like' and not 'is') a bespectacled lesbian dwarf.

Lol. Do you want to toke over from old Tel then??

I was playing guess the song with Sweden. I did like the Swedish, French Hungarian and Finnish entries however i think it is time to let the Eastern Europeans have their fun. Perhaps an east v west with the top haldf of each competion going into the final

drewboy wrote:

One of my mates goes every year and is actually doing his Phd on how Eurovision has affected the emerging Eastern European countries and aparently it makes interesting reading (if not viewing).

Oh dear oh dear. Sad case alert!!

WormThatTurned wrote:

helencbradshaw wrote:

Surely, out of all the good music we produce every year, we could find a better entry...! How hard can it be..!

I wouldnt think it would matter who we entered thesedays, nil points all the way !!

What happened to Morrisey's effort, I was soo looking forward to it and all we got is sub steps pap!

WormThatTurned wrote:

And France were third last and going by their anti war stance youd think they would have done better. In fact all of the Western nations struggled for votes.

Its a dead duck, leave it to the new countries. Italy were right.

Which is iroinc as France had their best entry in years as it was not an overblown ballad

duskmaiden wrote:

WormThatTurned wrote:

And France were third last and going by their anti war stance youd think they would have done better. In fact all of the Western nations struggled for votes.

Its a dead duck, leave it to the new countries. Italy were right.

Which is iroinc as France had their best entry in years as it was not an overblown ballad

The best entry for years??

Are you talking about the bald guy in the pink suit running around the stage with a stuffed cat strapped to his shoulder?! (for those who didn't watch it, No I'm not making it up!!!)

The British entry was indeed a load of old tosh but from what I saw there were some even worse, France being one. Armenia another and the winning song was just dire.