Sweden win Eurodrivel 2012

Questionable style and taste; Infathomable voting rules and cheesy songs combined with the traditional unspoken rule across much of the Northern Hemisphere last night that politics had to decide the outcome of the Eurovision song contest.

And I say 'Northern Hemisphere' because the maths don't add up : 52 countries entered the competition before being whittled down to 42 after the semi-finals. Even Wikipedia only lists a total of 50 recognised European countries (and both Poland and Armenia withdrew from the competetion). Since when has Israel been in Europe ? Are China going to make an appearance in 2013 ?

And Political because of the 2 unpoken rules being observed : everybody votes for their neighbours and political allies; and nobody is allowed to let any of the "big 5" countries win (Germany; France; Italy; Spain and the UK).

Consequently, the 2012 57th Eurovision song contest, held in what until very recently Geography teachers across the UK would argue is 'in Asia', observed ettiquette and applied the traditional rules of voting.

To call the final result an landslide would be an understatement : Loreen, representing Sweden, took a total of 372 points with her song (in English) "Euphoria". The act in 2nd place (a comedy collection of Siberian Grandmas) representing Russia with "Party for Everybody" could only muster 259 points.

And so the leaderboard went, with Spain breathing a sigh of relief that it didn't win, taking 10th place with Pastor Soler's "Quedate Conmigo", and therefore saving the country the costly 'honor' of having to host the event next year.

The UK, in time honoured tradition took 25th place (out of 26) with Grandpa Humperdink's entry "The Hokey Kokey", gaining just 12 points.

Apparently, after the phenomenal success in the competetion that UK enjoyed this year by coaxing the 75 year Engelbert Humperdink out of retirement, the UK selectors are hoping that Vera Lynn will represent the country in the 2013 competition.

Just spare a moment for Norway : Not only did they lose to England in yesterday's football friendly, but they also managed to finish last of all in the Eurovision.