VENUE Hartwall Arena, Helsinki		ENTRIES 24
HOSTS Janna Pelkonnen Mikki Leppilampi		DEBUTS Belarus, Georgia, Serbia

Helsinki hosted the fifty second contest and what a stunning production it was.  The array of entries for the whole event was perhaps as diverse as it had ever been, including light opera, teen guitar pop, jazz and blues (or at least Eurovision takes on those styles). The semi-final however dismissed a lot of the variety as no Western country qualified and we were treated to a glut of pouting Slavic divas going through to the final.

After a few years when there has been overt diaspora voting it's defenders always exclaimed that it never affected the destination of the grand prix. Well all that changed in 2007 as, in a contest with no obvious standout song, the unrivalled kings of ex-pat voting called in all their diaspora present and correct and it gave them victory. Among others Turkey and Armenia did way better than deserved for the exact same reasons. Apologists of the system claimed that Western Europe voted for the East too, but 95% of that vote was from countries like Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries with huge immigrant communities.

The hot favourite from Ukraine, Verka Serduchka, was just too bizarre to counteract the Serbian operation (although it did become the biggest hit from the contest, including making the UK top 30), and as last year the western countries and especially the "big four" dominated the foot of the scoreboard.   We know after 2007 that western Europe could send the best pop songs in history and millions of Balkan/Soviet/Turkish  ex-pats would still religiously vote for the fatherland. The three greatest countries in Eurovision history (Ireland, the UK and France) filled the bottom three positions, basically because their people are quite happy at home and don't emigrate.              

voting

The following were eliminated after a controversial semi-final

IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK:

Tony Blair announces his resignation as British prime minister.

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