It's Eurovision Song Contest Night!

bb1 wrote:They all seem to be voting for their neighbours just now

bb1 wrote:Night night, and no dreaming of those gorgeous babushkas!

bb1 wrote:I think half of Europe was probably haunted by strange dreams of the grannies chanting, Party for everybody, everybody dance.....

While the Swedish winner sinks without trace due to it sounding like 100 other dance tracks.

Political and national voting

The contest has long been accused by some of political bias, where the perception is that judges—and now televoters—allocate points based on their nation's relationship to the other countries, rather than the musical merits of the songs.[93] According to one study of Eurovision voting patterns, certain countries tend to form "clusters" or "cliques" by frequently voting in the same way.[53] Another study concludes that as of 2006, voting blocs have, on at least two occasions, crucially affected the outcome of the contest.[54] On the other hand, however, others argue that certain countries allocate disproportionately high points to others because of similar musical tastes, cultures and because they speak similar languages,[94][95] and are therefore more likely to appreciate each other's music; for example, the explanation for Greece and Cyprus' routine exchange of 12 points in every possible occasion since popular voting was introduced in 1998 is because those countries share the same music industry and language, and artists who are popular in one country are popular in the other.
Another influential factor is the high proportion of expatriates, ethnic minorities and diaspora living in certain countries, often due to recent political upheaval. Although judges and televoters cannot vote for their own country's entry, expatriates and diaspora can vote for their country of origin from their current location.
Since the number of points to be distributed allotted to each country remains equal, and independent of their population, voters in countries with larger populations have less power as individuals to influence the result of the contest than those voting from countries with smaller populations.
In a move to help reduce the effects of voting blocs since the advent of televoting in the Eurovision Song Contest, national juries were re-introduced alongside televoting in the final in 2009, each of both contributing 50% of the vote.[96] This hybrid system was expanded in 2010 to also be implemented in the semi-finals.[97] But in practice it makes little difference to 'political' voting.

Lamplighter wrote:

bb1 wrote:Night night, and no dreaming of those gorgeous babushkas!

For those who did not see them, here they are! LL

Lamplighter wrote:

bb1 wrote:I think half of Europe was probably haunted by strange dreams of the grannies chanting, Party for everybody, everybody dance.....

While the Swedish winner sinks without trace due to it sounding like 100 other dance tracks.

I agree, bonny! I had a listen this morning to the Swedish one and I can't even remember the tune, whereas the Babushkas' song remains with me! LL