Saw a bit of the Eurovision Song Contest while in the bar at Old Nick's Hotel.

Now I'm not a Eurovision fanatic as most of the music is a bit rubbish, OK I did have a bit of a laugh when those metal heads from Finland won a couple of years ago, but some of the entries, notably the Latvian pirate and the very gay Azeri angels did raise a titter.

However the voting has got a bit silly, with different blocks seemingly voting for their neighbours and forming regional alliances rather than going by the individual merits or otherwise of the performances.

Having said that the British entry was very, very poor indeed. Why is it that a country that has done more to shape the contemporary music scene than any other in the world, that has bred the likes of the Beatles, Stones, the Pistols and Zeppelin can only manage a bloke who was runner up on a TV talent show is quite beyond my comprehension.

Oh yeah and how come Isreal gets a go? Last time I looked Isreal was in Asia. So how come Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Iraq don't get a go?