LAST NIGHT'S EUROVISION

Sweden's Loreen:

Last night's Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Swedish city of Malmö, was quite a strange affair. It was most unEurovision-like. The previous year's winners always host the next contest - last year was won by Sweden's Loreen.

Eurovision, the most watched non-sporting contest in the world, usually tries to keep politics out of its proceedings. The idea behind Eurovision, which started in 1956, was and still is to bring Europeans (and more latterly Israelis and Australians) together through music. But this year's Eurovision, rightly or wrongly, was very political.

Two years ago, following its invasion of Ukraine and continued occupation of large parts of the country, Russia was banned from participating in Eurovision. Three years ago, Belarus was banned for submitting an entry mocking anti-government protests in its country.

This year's Eurovision was largely overshadowed by demonstrations against Israel's occupation of Gaza. All songs entered for the contest have to be vetted to ensure that politics is kept out of things. In 2009, Georgia's entry, We Don't Wanna Put In, an anti-Putin song performed by Stephane and 3G, was banned. It's a great disco song and certainly would have got my vote.

For context, Russia had just effectively annexed two bits of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia also did something similar with Transnistria in Moldova. This is what Putin does! Who says disco isn't political?!

Stephane and 3G's We Don't Wanna Put In:

Surprisingly, Croatia's entry was allowed into last year's Eurovision. The song, titled Mama ŠČ! and performed by Let 3, is a parody of dictators like Putin and obviously Hitler. The song is Eurovision camp at its best.

Let 3's Mama ŠČ!:

Israel's initial entry for this year's Eurovision wasn't approved. It was a song performed by Eden Golan and was called October Rain, a title that was deemed to reference the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October last year. A new title and new lyrics were given to the song. But Israel's entry was always going to attract protest. Eden Golan had to be given armed protection throughout the contest. Her performances in both the semi-finals and final were greeted with boos. However, her revamped song, Hurricane, came in fifth last night.

Eurovision was won by Switzerland. Nemo's The Code just pipped my pick to win, Croatia's Baby Lasagna's Rim Tim Tagi Dim. Nemo becomes the first non-binary contestant to win Eurovision. Israel's Dana International was the first transgender person to win Eurovision in 1998. And Austria's Conchita Wurst was the first drag queen to win in 2014.

Not surprisingly, the United Kingdom did terrible last night. No one likes us in Europe since Brexit!

Given it's 50 years since Abba won Eurovision with their Waterloo song, there were many rumours that Abba would reform last night. They didn't.

Just to prove that there's no keeping politics out of Eurovision, there was a military coup, known as the Carnation Revolution, on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The cue for the start of this unusually peaceful coup was when Vozes da Rádio started singing E Depois do Adeus, Portugal's Eurovision entry.

I've only just found out that there's a Eurovision Song Contest film starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. It's now on my must-watch list especially as Will Ferrell has just purchased a small stake in my football club, Leeds United. He joins another actor Russell Crowe, the swimmer Michael Phelps and two golfers, Jordan Spieth and Justin Tomas in partly owning Leeds United, now controlled by the NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers.

Switzerland's Nemo: