To think the UK should not fund the Eurovision Song Contest?

[NowIsTheSpringOfOurDiscontent]

Or bother entering obviously.

It’s a humiliation and everyone hates us so we hardly get any votes. None this year due to Brexit and the Covid vaccine probably.

Poor James . He certainly didn’t deserve NIL points!

@NowIsTheSpringOfOurDiscontent

100% agree.

To the ones voting YABU (aka the ones who voted for remain in the EU referendum,) and who believe the UK SHOULD fund Eurovision; WHY? confused Why the fuck should we even have anything to do with it anymore?

We have done SO shit in it for the past 20 years. Most of the countries just vote for their neighbouring countries, and have done since the late 1990s. We will never win again.

Some of the comments from some people on twitter - and a few on here - blaming Brexit - are hilarious! We have been doing badly at Eurovision for 20 years, Brexit has fuck all to do with it.

And if they are not voting for us because we did better getting our citizens vaccinated with the covid vaccine, then that goes to show what pathetic, childish, bad losers they really are.

Other countries DO seem to hate us, and yet we are no worse than many other countries. They are just jealous of us, and downright bitter. And don't anyone mention the fucking empire and how England raided other countries a million years ago, because that has been done to DEATH.

And we are NOT the only ones to have behaved shittily in the past - did you hear me? IN THE PAST!!!

We need to come out of Eurovision NOW. Fuck 'em. And like HELL should we be pouring money into it.

Maybe we should have a public referendum on it?

Someone needs to get out their, ahem, English dictionary and look up the meaning of the word 'legible'

[quote littlepattilou]@NowIsTheSpringOfOurDiscontent 100% agree.

To the ones voting YABU (aka the ones who voted for remain in the EU referendum,) and who believe the UK SHOULD fund Eurovision; WHY? Why the fuck should we even have anything to do with it anymore?

We have done SO shit in it for the past 20 years. Most of the countries just vote for their neighbouring countries, and have done since the late 1990s. We will never win again.

Some of the comments from some people on twitter - and a few on here - blaming Brexit - are hilarious! We have been doing badly at Eurovision for 20 years, Brexit has fuck all to do with it.

And if they are not voting for us because we did better getting our citizens vaccinated with the covid vaccine, then that goes to show what pathetic, childish, bad losers they really are.

Other countries DO seem to hate us, and yet we are no worse than many other countries. They are just jealous of us, and downright bitter. And don't anyone mention the fucking empire and how England raided other countries a million years ago, because that has been done to DEATH.

And we are NOT the only ones to have behaved shittily in the past - did you hear me? IN THE PAST!!!

We need to come out of Eurovision NOW. Fuck 'em. And like HELL should we be pouring money into it.

Maybe we should have a public referendum on it? [/quote]
Oh the irony! This thread is hilarious. Nearly as funny as the Germany performance.

It has nothing to do with brexit or vaccines. Nobody votes for the UK as it consistently enter any old shite and then moan and whinge when we come last.

Here in Sweden is is seen as such an honour to take part and represent the country, that our top performers compete to do it. We send what we think is genuinely our best new song and other countries do the same. In the run up to the final we hear lots of the songs on the radio. They are very popular. But we rarely hear the UK one as it's usually rubbish. And why should we like it when you don't even like it yourselves.

The viewing figures are huge though. The BBC would normally have to spent a lot more for a whole evening entertainment with the same draw.

The general view is if we don't have an act in the final, the British public won't watch the show (other countries that were in the show from the beginning then when semi finals came in so missed out on the final place have proved this to be true).

So we buy a place in the final. We have a relatively cheap evening fun.

If you didn't all watch it, we'd drop paying.

And why should we like it when you don't even like it yourselves.

Exactly. The UK consistently put out shite that is barely played on the radio, that most people haven't even heard before the show itself and certainly that most people think isn't very good. And then we get pissed off when others don't vote for it?

Whatever happened to the old 'Song for Europe' format where the British public vote for the song they actually want to go to Eurovision? That was good for getting momentum and morale up around the song generally too.

I also think the UK think themselves to be 'above' Eurovision a bit, that it's all just a bit silly and ridiculous and beneath us 'sophisticated' Brits, but then we still get pissed off when we do badly!

“I can't think of any top stars who would want to suffer the humiliation. So we're in catch 22 - Send an unknown act who is hoping to enhance their career or try to use an established act (who wouldn't touch it with a bargepole)”

We need someone who’s established enough that they’d do it just for the laugh, but also does the right kind of music... and I can’t think of anyone tbh.

Even pop acts all take themselves really seriously.

Each country only give points to their top eight acts though, don't they?

So even though I don't think he deserved 0 points overall, I can see how he wasn't in anybody's top eight.

Steps would be a good choice - in fact I'm surprised they haven't done it before now actually. Get a proper pop song, with a good 'Steps' dance routine, get everyone on Tiktok doing it etc - could work!

Ireland is the country with most wins. Chew on that .

I’m not in the UK, and the zero points is not because people hate the UK. The song was boring and the performance was just bland. He looked like he was 5 cm tall between those trumpets. And that jacket..why?!

@Letsgetreadytocrumble Steps...?! Just, no. 😂

@WickedQueen

Wow it’s really shit to be making comments about the guy’s appearance.

Yep, let’s start fat shaming him...

We got zero because we were awful. At least Germany got few points because they were taking the mickey!

Of course, it's terrible. That's the point. But it is very entertaining nonetheless.

What we need is a friend like Greece/Cyprus who give each other 12 points no matter what, year in year out. Besties forever and will keep us from nil points.

Can the Channel Islands enter?

I think the big 5 suffer a bit from not taking part in the semifinals, songs can really build a buzz from getting noticed then. I also thought some singers, Malta and Israel in particular, sang less well in the final than they did in the semis so it may be a double edged sword.
I didn't find the UK song to be memorable and the staging wasn't anything special either, I think it's mean to insult his appearance but his voice was not up to the job on the night. I don't think people gave him no points to stick the boot in, they just didn't give him points because they enjoyed other songs more.
I do like to see countries represent their culture like Ukraine and sing in their own languages or at least in their own accent like Azerbaijan. I think because popular media is so saturated with English language content it's more interesting to hear other languages so the UK may be a victim of the English language's success.

We were getting nil points far before Brexit. We aren’t very good at putting up good or interesting songs. Our song was absolutely terrible this year. Eurovision has always been partly political but a good song usually overcomes that - Russia came second recently with a great song when they were very unpopular with the Ukraine thing. Israel won it a couple of years ago and the U.K. has definitely come in the top 10-12 a few times in the last decade when the song has been half alright. Also lots of popular countries came in the bottom 5 this year. Put up shit songs and get shit scores.

Lots of different countries have won Eurovision (approx 30) It’s not just the same 4-5 countries each year. Also lots of countries in Europe but outside the EU don’t give a stuff about Brexit. Most in the EU don’t care enough about the U.K. to care or hold onto historic grudges like the U.K. do with Germany for example.

This year we had a not very good song, song in a not very good way with not very good staging (and that is being generous with 'not very good '). We looked like we were making no effort. German's song was rubbish but at least they had a dancing finger/penis. We didn’t deserve any points.

That said, didn't the lead singer of The Darkness enter one year and was infamously passed over by the public in favour of Scooch's "Flying the Flag"?

I remember that. Justin was robbed. And incredulous. As I think were we all.

I was saying last night that Steps need to do it. They've got some song out recently with Michelle Visage on guest vocals that would have done far better than the guy last night.

It was the staging that really did for him. Everyone else had great back projections or lighting or animation or some other fancy gimmick or fantastic costumes with amazing looking singers - we had a smiley chap with some giant trumpets in the background and crap dancers playing fake instruments singing a very bland song. It deserved to come last frankly.

I think the only thing that would worry me about us not paying to be in it any more is we then lose the rights to having it screened on our telly and I would hate that as I'd still enjoy it even if the UK wasn't competing.

I can’t believe people watch it. It’s the biggest pile of shight and completely politically motivated. All the poorer EU countries voting for the richer EU countries.... even when their songs a crap.

The vast majority of songs are absolutely crap from all countries. I know it’s just a bit of fun in reality but it’s also another Britain bashing opportunity. Even if we had the best song, we’d still not win because we left them!

@FatCatThinCat

It has nothing to do with brexit or vaccines. Nobody votes for the UK as it consistently enter any old shite and then moan and whinge when we come last.

Here in Sweden is is seen as such an honour to take part and represent the country, that our top performers compete to do it. We send what we think is genuinely our best new song and other countries do the same. In the run up to the final we hear lots of the songs on the radio. They are very popular. But we rarely hear the UK one as it's usually rubbish. And why should we like it when you don't even like it yourselves.

Yep, we’ve got into the catch22 situation where no decent, popular singer will do Eurovision for the U.K. as they fear destroying their career - hence an unknown act who finishes bottom and perpetuates the fear, and the circle continues...!

I did love how James basically celebrated like he had won last night - and with all the other contestants applauding him. He definitely wasn’t hated in the arena.

We should remove ourselves from the group of funders and just apply to get through the heats like everyone else. I am not sure quite why a handful of countries should being paying for everyone else's benefit anyway. There should be one flat price to apply to be in it and everyone should pay the same.

And I remember when we won it back in 1997 (or something like that) with Katrina and the Waves. People liked the song and it won because it was actually a really good and catchy song by a likeable and warm act.

Political voting has some impact in overall votes but there are lots of instances where unpopular countries do well with great songs and popular countries absolutely bomb when they put up some dross. Yes the U.K. do historically badly but let’s not pretend this isn’t significantly down to us always putting forward atrocious songs in comparison most of the time. No point pretending our song last night was deserving of anything above the bottom tenth percentile. It wasn’t even popular by our own citizens in the U.K. top 40 chart!