Eurovision 2014 - 06/08/10 May 2014

Far too dangerous for the EBU. Some year the Big 4 will all fail to qualify and the ratings will dive (the Uk, Germany, France and Spain accounted for nearly 50% of the ratings one year recently) Even in Eurovision mad Sweden the final dipped big time when they weren't in it. It could lead to big strops and problems. Leading to the contest become as irrelevant as the Junior version.

The semi finals at 2 hours are hardly too long - they've had up to 20 songs in them before so if the Big 5 keep their status that allows for 46 entrants - we were down to 37 this year. I suspect all involved would rather add an extra half hour to the semi finals than an extra night should they need too.

tbh I just didn't think the Russian grannies were funny whereas the Polish jugs had me laughing away. Anyhow surely we've got a much bigger Irish population than Polish? I'm not saying it had no effect but I doubt our Polish residents could push it all the way to the top without quite a determined effort. I'm happy to be proven wrong however.

The Irish weren't in the final, but yes we generally give Ireland good marks. Polish is the third most spoken language in the UK after English and Welsh. I'm not saying this was the sole reason... they would have got votes anyway but I think the Polish vote may have helped it considerably.

I would love to know how the British judges give the song so little and the vote so much and it still managed to get the 12 points.

There were two things appealing about the Polish entry, and the song was not one of them.

If we look back over the past couple of years its really doesn't help:

2013: UK give
0 points to Poland
4 points to Romania

In 2006, 2007 == 2009. 2010, 2011, 2012 : Nothing to both

In 2008
4 points to Poland.

Yet the interesting fact the number of pols has decreased, since a few years ago.

Something more interesting: Romania Vote a bit stranger

Public give
* Hungary 12 (8th)
* Austria 10 (7th)
* Netherlanders 8 (11th)

Judges give
Demark - 12
Sweden - 10
Germany 8

Nothing really adds up, where back at square one, in 2008 where it becomes pretty clear the to much neighbour voting took place, Yet Malta should have won the 12 in the uk.

Maybe the public vote should just get scarped? there all useless?

Even the most generous estimates place the Polish population of the UK at approx. 1.5 per cent, and it is likely less.

They've used this effect quite a lot over the years. It's coarse pitch LED mesh I think. Lights shine through, but because it's always seen slightly out of focus, the pixels appear to merge and you don't appreciate the mesh.

One year they were really clever and had graphic lights in the LED that appeared to fire real beams of light because they had real lights behind them.

(Don't think the floor is reactive by the way - just cleverly designed graphics that the artists hit marks for.)

Yep - though it may also be that Polish ex-pats are inclined to vote for their own country more than Brits are for any of the other 24 countries. 1.5% of the UK population is still just under a million people. (Or put it another way - if absolutely everyone in the UK voted equally for the 25 songs we could vote for that would be 4% voting for each song. 1.5% of the population being Polish is not insignificant in that context is it?)

Not sure what the figures are for Germany and Turkish migrants, but Turkey was always thought to get good marks from Germany because of the Turkish ex-pat population in Germany.

Turkey used to get good marks from the UK...

Exactly. Audience figures are really important to the EBU (It's one big reason why the countries that don't go through the semifinals still vote in the final.)