My friend Glen (see Photos section - and past posts about his fantastic Countdown appearances) sends me a DVD of all the entries every year. This year the general standard is higher but there's not a hit in the entire bunch. Nor any real disasters.

But hits (and entertainment) come from ghastly or brilliant tracks and songs. Not from serious but misguided examples of adequate but uninspired musical ability.

Like the Internet, full of well intended but boring efforts by those with limited talent.

Suffocating the few gems and examples of brilliance.

Where have all the stars gone? Abba and Celine Dion and the numerous other global superstars helped by Eurovision would be relegated to a few hundred You Tube views, buried beneath the dead bodies of musical ordinariness.

Interesting that Eurovision threads get massive visits and reads here - more than any others on the Tipsheet forum. Which is sad yet encouraging at the same time.