Politics enters the Eurovision Song Contest

Not that politics hasn’t always been a part of Eurovision though it has traditionally been confined to the voting system itself. We seem to be well and truly as far away from the bing bang bong type happy pop lyrics of Eurovision’s yesteryear and following last years heavy rock (but still kitsch) entry (and winner no less) by Lordi from Finland, all bets are now off regarding what is and what is not acceptable in the contest. The contest organisers have now approved Israel’s controversial entry “Push the button” which many see as a plea to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to nuke their country. The song also contains references to “demonic rulers” (hey, they could mean Tony Blair!). Age old rules for the contest state that song lyrics must not, amongst other things, contain any political propaganda. Is it too late to put Lulu in again for the UK doing Boom Bang a Bang part II (or would that also, in today’s cynical eyes, been seen as an oblique anti (or even pro) war polemic?). The contest will be held in Finland on May 12th.

I feel very queezy now.