the cost of EuroVision....a £30m postcard

It's that time of year again, the time when Europe (and for some reason Israel) unites for the colourful and enigmatic Europop tradition that is Eurovision, an event that started in 1956 and is still going strong today. While most of us look down at the event, most of the performances are interesting (I'm being polite) and the politics that goes with the event's scoring system (the Eastern Europeans always seem to vote for each other though to be fair, the UK does always give Ireland points for some reason) are a tradition which in any other international event would be illegal.



   The big news going into tonight's show is that some countries have openly told their contestants to NOT win! Whichever country wins the event then has to host the following year, the estimated cost is £28-30million, unlike a sporting event such as the Olympics, fans don't travel to attend bringing tourism, there isn't a high level of sponsorship so it's basically a night where a country can show views of the host city, though the global audience is an impressive 125 million, to people that have no intention of travelling to or spending money towards their economy, it's essentially a £30m postcard.

   Tonight the competition is held in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan and they have spent more than their annual tourism budget preparing and promoting the event, for a smaller nation like Azerbaijan, it's perhaps a good risk to take, getting to take centre stage for one night to show the world what they have to offer but do the rewards really justify the means? That's money that could build a new hospital, fund healthcare, education or create jobs potentially.

   Spain has urged it's entrant, Pastora Soler, to not win the contest as the country is enduring massive cuts in an attempt to control their spiralling debts. While it could be argued that winning would lift the mood of the nation, with the global recession it's a good logic politically. Pastora has publically admitted this but there are most likely a few other entrants that have been told the same thing.

   The bookies favourite to win is Sweden who have hosted the event 4 times previously, they are a stable country who wouldn't see it as a disaster if they did win. Great Britain has sided with crooner Engelbert Humperdinck (real name is Arnold Dorsey) and Europeans are excited to see how he does, if Mr Humperdinck was to win, the BBC licence fee would be used to pay for next year's show presumably.

   There is no country in a worse state financially in Europe than Greece, can you imagine the look on the face of their prime minister should they win tonight? Actually, I'd tune in just to see that.