And so in 2008 the great Russian Bear finally got around to climbing through the window of the Eurosong Skoda Superb, ripped out the back seat and found the half-eaten pork pie jammed in with a copy of "caravaning monthly". Whilst mercilessly devouring the competition, it sti;l found time to shit in the woods. Just ask the Georgians, who have been unceremoniously dumped out of this year's competition after bringing a bit of politics into Eurovision in the god-awful shape of a "disco funk" effort that subtly namechecked Vladimir Putin. They were given three days to write a new song, which incredibly wasn't enough...oh, and the EBU weren't accepting post during those days.

As a result 42 nations will be getting a spotty oik to apply for 1252 visas in the coming months for a trip to the Indoor Olympic Arena in Moscow, site of athletics in 2006, boxing in 1980, and roulette during the 50's. Hoorah for Slovakia who've given it another go, boo to San Marino who dipped their toe into the icy Dnipro then scampered back to their sun soaked tax haven. Kudos to Latvia who had to borrow the money to compete, and also attendees the Icelandics a peoples who was it not for nature's thermal bounty, would now be knawing each other's own legs off for sustenance.

We have a two semi-final approach yet again, after it went down so well in Belgrade (albeit whilst doing it's bit to bring about the global credit crisis). I feel I need to point out the sea-change of 2009, which is the partially return to jury voting. Since 1997, the great unwashed have been given the chance to make a difference and then consequenelty turned Tanel Padar into a winner, and annually voting the 4 national big boys into the bottom four places. Mainly because of this, juries will now count towards 50% to the final voting, with the other half being made up by the very same great unwashed who thought Charlotte Nillsson had a better song than Selma (I'll never forget or forgive). So remember, before you vote, decide "what would Stock, Aitken and Waterman think"...and vote the other way).

Information on the Eurovision Song Contest Singers and Songs for this year along with my ill-informed comments can be found by clicking on a flag as and when they are updated. The build up schedule for the two week's of rehearsals can be found here