So, it was thanks to Ireland and Malta that UK Eurovision entrants Scooch didn't leave Helsinki on Saturday night with null points. Our Irish friends gave our entrant seven points, the Maltese twelve, meaning we came joint second to last with France. Alas we didn't return the favour to Ireland - they got just five points, off Albania, meaning the one time star country of the Song Contest finished last.
Scooch were upbeat about their low rating, taking solace in the fact that UK entrants rarely score well at Eurovision these days. Singer Caroline Barnes told reporters that, despite the disappointing score, the Eurovision experience had been "one in a million". And presumably they took some heart yesterday that their Eurovision song entered the UK singles chart Top 5. However, the Sunday papers were less willing to accept that UK disappointment at Eurovision is inevitable, putting more of the blame at the cheesy pop band's door. The Sunday Mirror said the group had made the UK "the laughing stock of Europe", The People blamed Scooch for only just escaping the UK " a 'nul points' humiliation", while the Sunday Times, referencing the group's airline theme, observed "it wasn't a disaster - more of a crash landing".
Other media dwelled once again on the modern Eurovision bias to the Eastern European countries, who consistently vote for each other ensuring that they dominate the top 10. Germany, Spain, France and the UK, who each contribute much more than their fair share in funding the annual songs fest, all came in the bottom six on the night, and one Ladbrokes spokesman commented that such is the bias in Eurovision voting these days that even if the UK fielded one of its global music stars, like Elton John, we'd probably still struggle to compete.
All of which might make you question why countries like the UK continue to fund Eurovision, though given that the BBC enjoyed a massive 50.8% audience share at the peak of its Eurovision coverage on Saturday night, with 10.9 million people tuning in, I suspect the Beeb's future involvement in the event is assured. Because, fortunately for the poorer Eurovision nations who dominate the Contest leader board, us Brits seem to love Eurovision even though our own entrants always do so badly these days. As long as we can all watch with tongue in cheek as Terry Wogan mocks the foreigners, obviously.
This year's winner, by the way, was Serbia with Marija Serifovic's performance of a song called 'Molitva'.