Chris

The block voting is annoying, but there isn't enough of it to completely rig the result. None of the little groups of friendly countries is big enough.

Denmark won because it was widely believed to be the best song. It has done well in download charts across Europe since being unveiled and it was the bookie's favourite to win. It won because lots of people liked it and voted for it, not because of block voting.

As a one-off evening of daft entertainment, Eurovision is great. The songs and performances are getting better as well. Bonnie Tyler had an average song and a shaky start to her performance. The UKs offering on the night was nowhere near a top 10 performance and it was voted on accordingly.

If we ever want to win the thing, we need to concentrate on getting the right song and the right staging. Finding someone to sing it is almost an afterthought - look how well Jade Ewen did in 2009, she finished in 5th despite a shaky performance and being unknown anywhere, because the song's pedigree was top rate and it was well crafted. Looking for sympathy votes from people who used to like Bonnie Tyler/Englebert Humperdink 30-odd years ago clearly doesn't work.