Eurovision

[mrmcfister]

Great contest,best songs for years.Graham Norton will grow into the role and was pretty good.ALW can write a tune or two.Our song was our best for years and ALW can write more memorable tunes that Jmaes Last me thinks......from wiki../

Eligible participants include Active Members (as opposed to Associate Members) of the European Broadcasting Union. Active members are those whose states fall within the European Broadcasting Area, or otherwise those who are members of the Council of Europe.[17]

The European Broadcasting Area is defined by the International Telecommunication Union:[18]

The "European Broadcasting Area" is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40? East of Greenwich and on the south by the parallel 30? North so as to include the western part of the USSR, the northern part of Saudi Arabia and that part of those countries bordering the Mediterranean within these limits. In addition, Iraq, Jordan and that part of the territory of Turkey lying outside the above limits are included in the European Broadcasting Area.
The western boundary of Region 1 is a line drawn west of Iceland down the centre of the Atlantic Ocean.[19]

Active members include broadcasting organisations whose transmissions are made available to (virtually) all of the population of the country in which they are based.[17]

If an EBU Active Member wishes to participate, they must fulfil conditions as laid down by the rules of the Contest (of which a separate copy is drafted annually). As of 2009, this includes the necessity to have broadcast the previous year's programme within their country, and paid the EBU a participation fee in advance of the deadline specified in the rules of the Contest for the year in which they wish to participate.

Eligibility to participate is not determined by geographic inclusion within the continent of Europe, despite the "Euro" in "Eurovision" ? nor does it have a direct connection with the European Union. Several countries geographically outside the boundaries of Europe have competed: Israel, Cyprus and Armenia, in Western Asia, since 1973, 1981 and 2004 respectively; and Morocco, in North Africa, in the 1980 competition alone. In addition, several transcontinental countries with only part of their territory in Europe have competed: Turkey, since 1975; Russia, since 1994; Georgia, since 2007; and Azerbaijan, since 2008. Two of the countries that have also previously sought to enter the competition, Lebanon and Tunisia, in Western Asia and North Africa respectively, are also outside of Europe. The Gulf state of Qatar, in Western Asia, announced in 2009 its interest in joining the Contest in time for the 2011 edition.[20]

[mel xxx]

all crap lol

[The Last Word]

Why should a country that has produced the likes of The Beatles onwards giving a flying one about this tacky, desperate, monumental waste of time and money?

Its only redeeming feature was Wogan's sly, blithe send-up, which I doubt Norton can match.

[Sam Slater]

It seems our Scandinavian brothers take Eurovision much more seriously than we do: