AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle ·
17/05/2026 10:38
Every single year, we get this - invariably from people who never even remotely think about the existence of Eurovision until May. What on earth do they get from it?
"It's all complete rubbish/farcical/a waste of time."
Absolutely fine, then ignore it, the same as you presumably do with other optional things that don't interest you at all.
"It's all political and nobody votes for the songs anyway."
Yes, there's always going to be an element of politics in something as big as that, but isn't it fascinating how the best songs almost always seem to win and dominate the top of the board, whilst the mediocre and nondescript ones often languish at the bottom?
"Everybody hates the UK - especially since Brexit."
We've won several times and we came second only a few years ago - 'coincidentally' when we sent a great singer, a great song, a great performance and great staging. Also, lots of the regular participants aren't and never were in the EU. Are you genuinely surprised that a lacklustre song and a poor performance isn't in most people's Top 10 favourites - especially considering that we're one of the two countries that dominate global pop music, and we have the native language advantage too?
"Australia isn't even in Europe - it's called EUROvision!!!!"
Gosh, you're the first person to ever have noticed that! Thanks so much for informing us!
"I don't even know who any of these artists are."
Some of them are young and up-and-coming talented singers; some of them are extremely well-known and very popular in their own and other continental countries; if you dislike international music so much and you "never watch this rubbish", why on earth would you expect to have deep knowledge of the artists?
"I DO know who some of these artists are - and it shouldn't be for established performers."
Make your mind up (see last point)! The contest requires a new SONG, but any artist is allowed to perform it, whether it's Adele or Colin from the Nag's Head in Wolverhampton, if they are approached by the national broadcaster and are willing.
"It's a huge waste of OUR money - it's time for us to stop participating and the BBC should save the cash." Do you understand that being a member of the EBU costs a lot and is about far, far more than just the ESC? That said, do you realise that a great many people DO like the ESC - and that they pay their licence fee just like you do - and that many of them will have no interest in things that you consider top-drawer essential events - and that the BBC is meant to represent everybody's interests and not just yours - and that, if they don't spend it on this programming, they'll only spend it on different programming that you may hate even more, not on ushering in world peace or ending famine?
"I fully understand that the music is just one part of it; a major driving force of the ESC is and has always been to cement friendly relations with other countries and to develop, advance and spread high-tech new groundbreaking filming and broadcasting capabilities which open up a great many wonderful new applications and possibilities throughout the world for the benefit of humanity."
Actually, scrap that one... for some reason, I've never heard any of the moaning nay-sayer 'experts' complain about - or even pay the slightest nod to that issue.
I have no interest whatsoever in football. I gather there were some big matches on yesterday from what I overheard and seeing the TV listings; but I instantly thought "not for me, thanks" and ignored them. What I didn't do was to tell everybody IRL and online why I hate it at length, and why I think it's all rubbish - giving them the 'benefit' of my amazing knowledge and insight as an outsider that I'm sure will never have occurred to them - and thus why it's a waste of everybody's time, and the TV companies shouldn't spend all that money to show it, and we should just pull out of it and stop engaging and nobody should watch it anymore.
Soaps, sport, cookery shows, Love Island, Traitors, Strictly, I'm A Celebrity etc. etc. None of these hold any interest for me at all... so I don't watch, engage or discuss them at length and tell the millions of people who do like them why they are wrong to do so. Instead, I focus on things that DO interest me and bring me joy. The government is never going to make watching specific entertainment shows on TV compulsory.
82 years' worth of content is uploaded to YouTube alone every single day - just one website, without taking into account the rest of TV, streaming and thousands and thousands of other hobbies and activities that are out there, many of them free and accessible with just a few clicks. If you can't find anything of interest to watch or do and, instead, choose to pick out, watch and complain about something that you absolutely don't like, that doesn't make you come across as all that bright.
Sorry for the extended rant... but it's every single year, predictable as clockwork. Whatever could motivate them? Why do people actively seek out optional things that they know they will hate and then be surprised to find that they hate them, and pontificate as though they personally are the supreme oracle of all knowledge about the subject?!