On this page you can see my predictions for the final 2012, so if you trust my judgment then you can blindly wager your hard earned cash on these tips. As is increasingly the case though these days, there isn't much value to be had in the competition unless you get in straight from the off in mid March. By May the markets have sorted themselves out after the bookies have explored the crevasses of key Eurosong fans for their take on matters. And this year those people are scrabbling away trying to make a case for anyone apart from Sweden.

It's not the most bold statement of the year when I say that Loreen is pretty much guaranteed a victory this year. She has a decent draw too. The real interest is where the rest of the podium places will land up. Of the geriatrics on show, the Russian grannies are likely to get to the front of the post office queue, whereas our very own Engelbert will be fumbling out the back trying to find the bus pass application form... Italy & Ukraine look the most likely to try and muscle into the action. There's always a surprise from the bunch so consider the Scandis, and Turkey.

As ever the predictions below are based on an assumption of certain qualifiers from the two semi finals, details of which you can see here and here. The five countries I failed to predict getting through were Albania, Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, and Hungary. Although these success stories are not listed below, I can't see any of these troubling the top five. From all of these there may be a case for Cyprus partitioning their way into the top 10.