Don't let others change your mind.
Whoever triumphs in the election today wins an extra special prize in the form of a six month European Union presidency.
Slips into reverie. Imagines giant rotating chair decorated in blue velvet with gold satin stars.
But before that moment comes there is a more significant contest - the most democratic, the most watched, and the most kitsch vote in Europe (plus Turkey, plus Israel). We mean of course Eurovision 2005. The hype starts now. (We're already bored of hyping Star Wars.)
In a previous incarnation the Observer blog found itself reporting on a Eurovision contest. Tallinn 2003, won - by strange coincidence - by Baltic neighbour Latvia. We can reliably inform readers that some of our European cousins take the song contest very seriously indeed. And rightly so. Over 100 million people watch Eurovision. If it was good enough for ABBA it should be good enough for any aspiring or indeed established musician.
Regrettably, the habit of political voting, whereby nations shamelessly ignore the songs (excusable insofar as they are mostly musical atrocities) and vote to reward/punish historical allegiance/enmity, has got a little out of hand in recent years.
The blog blames the recent expansion eastwards. Bloc voting by former Soviet satellites has queered the pitch for the Eurovision warhorses of old Europe - Britain, Germany, Ireland, Malta. Partisan voting always used to go on, but as in the EU, the illusion was at least maintained that national interests were subordinate to the greater European whole. The principle counted for something. The blog is a fervent supporter of EU exapansion, but it hopes that the Eurovision disease does not presage an outbreak of cynical coalition politics in Brussels.
Still, we'll be watching the final on 21 May, and probably the semi (a new innovation to allow more contestants their 15 minutes of pan-European glory) on 19 May. We're also on the look out for Eurovision blogs. Hecklerspray is preforming a valuable background-and-betting-odds service already. And we look forward to finding out what happens when Chig gets to Kiev. Any others? Bring 'em on.
