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The UK can succeed in Eurovision again
Jade and BBC win praise from UK
The United Kingdom has been universally praised both at home and internationally for the change in attitude to particiapation at the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Combined with the changes to the voting mechanism, it means that the United Kingdom, along with other countries that believed victory was impossible, now have hope and belief that any country can win the Eurovision Song Contest.
Iceland, who had struggled to qualify for the final in recent years, and took 14th place in 2008 despite being tipped for the top five, took second place in Moscow last night and France made a welcome return to the top ten, despite singing from one of the 'cursed' positions of third in the running order.
The UK's change in Eurovision attitude saw a major record label backing the entry and an international promotion tour, where Jade Ewen performed her entry 'my time' live on every occasion, whilst many chose to perform with playback.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has continually spoken about the need for the competition to showcase true talent and ability and the United Kingdom has helped lead the way on that front.
This morning, British media are reporting the Eurovision Song Contest as a musical competition and writing about Norway's winning entry on levels unseen for many years. Traditional 'day after negativity' and calls to withdraw from the competition have evapourated.
The Daily Mail writes "The Londoner's result was a significant improvement on last year's bottom-of-the-league rating, succeeding in reversing the UK's bad run of results...It raises hopes that the landscape of Eurovision's voting process has been changed - with votes being cast on acts' musical merit instead of for tactical reasons. Tonight's result could now mark an end to the controversial practice of tactical voting which has blighted the competition in recent years... the winning Norwegian violin song Fairytale won praise across the borders."
Last night, on BBC Radio 5 live's phone in show, the majority of callers stated that they enjoyed the show, enjoyed the music and that the Norwegian song should be a hit in the United Kingdom, and most importantly, that the result was fair. All major news channels reported on the Eurovision Song Contest winner, rather than stories about unfair voting or the United Kingdom's entrant being treated unfairly by the voting system.
Graham Norton's commentary was also singled out for praise. He combined humour and tongue in cheek amusement with worthy praise for the songs and providing information as well as amusement. He was also able to keep the viewers watching during the voting, which provided a tough challenge due to Norway's huge lead throughout the show. Many viewers would have been expected to turn away from the show after the first few juries, with Norway's victory almost guaranteed within 10 minutes of the votes coming in.
Jade Ewen, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the BBC may not be celebrating a Eurovision Song Contest victory this morning, but they can celebrate restoring the reputation of the contest in the United Kingdom, and restoring the United Kingdom's reputation in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Related polls
- Norway: Vote for your favourite song in the final of Melodi Grand Prix
- Azerbaijan: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Milli Seçim Turu
- Hungary: Vote for your favourite act in the final of A Dal
- Iceland: Vote for your favourite song in the final of Songvakeppni Sjonvarpsins
- Malta: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Hungary: Vote for your favourite act in the second semifinal of A Dal
- Norway: Vote for your favourite song in the third semifinal of Melodi Grand Prix
- Sweden: Vote for your favourite act in the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen
- Malta: Vote for your favourite act in the semifinal of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Bulgaria: Vote for your favourite act in the Bulgarian national final 2012
- Latvia: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Eirodziesma 2012
- Belarus: Vote for your favourite act in the final of EuroFest 2012
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I am really happy that UK scored really well this year with a lovely song and wonderful singer. I agree that the new system of 50:50 jury:televoting should become permanent. Stick with it EBU and you can't go wrong.
jade ewen is amazing..
Reminder from my previous comments:
Jade EWEN (phonetically as in ..."YOU win" 
Well done, Jade 
!!!!! I knew you could do it.
You took a not-so-special song and made it ....PRECIOUS!!!
Greece awarded 12 points to United Kingdom
(and I can proudly say that I voted for it) 
Thank you.
Congrats to the UK.
Great song - great performer. I am proud that my country is the only one who gave Jade the 12 pts - it was quite a surprise for me - it looks like that we haven't lost our taste in music.
It is embarassing though that Azerbaijan and Turkey ended up above Jade. Moreover, i dont think Iceland should score better than the UK.
oopppps another little issue is the lack of black people in the contest!! from what I observed, Jade had the darkest skin.. It's just dreadful but true, that the eastern european countries are racist. I would like to know about Andy's experiences last year... However, tha's another story..no doubt!
The UK entry was super. Although I think the song is much too theatrical, as expected, it was better than most others on the night. The staging of the contest was excellent except the gay rights incident that showed us all about the lack of human rights in Russia. It's a real shame that they spent so much to be accepted and then go and then their police behave like they did. It's also a shame that so much was spent when so many are hungry in Russia... What must those poor people think! Well done Jade, Andrew & Graham...
WELL DONE to Jade and allthe team you did the UK proud. A really good song excellently performed. The only problem was how good the other songs were. I think 5th was a fair placing. More importantly for UK fans was how seriously everything was taken here this year. Let's hope it continues and we can be up there fighting for the top spot next year and for years to come
Sorry EUROFAN, one must point out that Britain includes Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland too...not just England.
i dont think the nordic vote is that powerful. finland doesnt usually give points to denmark, denmark doesnt give points to finland at all. this year sweden got very low points from other nordic countries - the highest being finland. with the nordic countries, if its a good song they'll vote, but theyre the first to criticise eachother if their entries arent good at all!
I doubt if anybody is bothered about the teeny weeny blocks EURO FAN. We have lived with the Greek one for so long we are used to it and it has little impact. It is the larger ones that have needed addressing and it seems in part to have been done!
Check out countries exchanging 12 points :
(ex soviet countries) :
Russia/Moldova/latvia/Lithuania/ukraine/estonia/Armenia/Azerbaijan/Belarus.
and ex yugoslavian countries :
Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia/Montenegro/FYR Macedonia/Bosnia herzegovina.
and the scandinavian block (which also promotes the ex soviet countries sometimes) :
sweden/finland/denmark/iceland/norway
So why to be bothered from the Andorra-Spain block or the Cyprus-Greece block?
two countries in a block is not a big deal.
the nordic group is very powerfull.
And this must change, otherwise many countries will not participate again in Eurovision song contest.
I almost forgot! Congratulations to the British entry. Great voice, great song! Should have been higher on the final results chart.
Sakis Rouvas and Jade, representatives of Greece and United Kingdom respectively, asked public apologies for their failure to win. This act honours the two artists.
I think that the British song should have been in a better position. But England has no strong neighbors to vote for the British song. Euro neighbors give the final result in Eurovision song contest. We must understand that it is a fact. and something must be done to change it.
The best Eurovision we've had since Jessica Garlick!
Fingers crossed that it'll continue and the 10's will be a new era for the UK in Eurovision. Perhaps we'll even get the chance to host it again?! Then we can show Europe exactly how seriously we take the ESC!!!
MANCHESTER 2011 lol
Jade's performance was fantastic. I was there in the hall and she sounded brilliant - much better than on TV. It made a huge difference focusing on the top of the scoreboard rather than on the bottom. Jade made me proud to be from the UK again. David Brooks is so right about the Norwegian Slut's comments. Well done David too!
Norwegian Slut you can say what you like she had the best voice in the competition and your vitriolic spiteful comments only put your country in a bad light.
Now, don't get me wrong I've always be proud to be British, but last night's performance by Jade and ALW made me just that little more prouder to be British. After her amazing performance, our country's best of the millennium, I stood up and applauded her - I can't remember doing that so vigourously for some time.
I hope the credibility of this year's contest can help her start a fantatsic new life for herself because she absolutely deserves it, the life she's led at home with her parents.
She's inspirational!!!
I hope the song does really well when it's released.
I liked Jade, but not the song that much....
...however I am so happy we gave 12 pts to the UK! It is our 2nd one to the UK after 1976!!!!!!!(only cause Cyprus was not in it!)
UK has awarded Greece 3 times with 12pts!!! 2004-2005-&2008!!!! it was about time we payed back......
...and actually the UK is the 3rd best voter for Greece (in total pts) after Cyprus & Spain, in the 30 or so year long history of the ESC...
THANK YOU UNITED KINGDOM.....& remember...
if the UK returns the PARTHENON MARBLES to Athens, be sure for more 12 to come - with pleasure!( or 10's if Cyprus makes to a final.....hahahaha)
CONGRATULATIONS NORWAY AND ICELAND...
and I think the Actual third song is Estonia
and come U.K. and Danemark
thanks for the nices song Estonia, U.K., Danemark, France
Finally excellent song and performer from the UK! Jade was magnificent, for that reason We (Serbia) gave 8 pts to the UK.
I hope this has been a turning point for the UK!
A big MASSIVE well done to Jade, Andrew, Diane, Graham and the rest of the UK delegation and to Arlene Phillips for the beautiful staging. Jade, Andrew and those violinists made for a stunning visual display.
I am quite confident that this is the start of an enormous career for Jade and that the UK gave birth to another Leona Lewis last night. Who knows perhaps she will return again in a few years time once she is even more famous. Judging by the wonderful comments on various press reports and websites, she is certainly a massive favourite of the ESC fans and industry experts combined.
With regards to 2010, I think the BBC MUST now keep the format of one specialist song at the pre-selection stage but go one step further by returning to the idea of a specialist famous face to represent us. There doesn't need to be a public poll. The UK audience don't have a clue when it comes to choosing. The past 4 years (plus Jemini) proves that. I would love to see Gary Barlow write for us next year and see Take That perform since they have fans all across the globe who would vote. If TT refuse to take part, then at least let Gary write for a new star in the making.
Overall though, I'm a very happy ESC fan today. For the first time in 12 years, I felt proud to be British last night! Thank you to Jade AND Andrew for restoring some badly needed national pride.
no novelties in the top ten: let me tell you there is exactly one novelty act I've ever liked and it was verka sedushka and I'm happy it didnt win because people realised that eurovision was no joke. Crap europop from spain came last: woohoo! Graham was great and made me think that the bad results were a blessing in disguise to get rid of terry wogan. Now we can hopefully start sending real music again and when the credit crisis is over we may even be able to send some hot emerging talent when eurovision becomes seen as once again, a vehicle not a blight for people's careers. I would also like to credit France on sending their stars to the contest; it shows that it is about a love of music and not just focussing on the result, which when the quality is apparent will naturally follow. Now I hope jade becomes successful and the credibilty of the contest will be completely restored
I think a big thank you is in order for the Greeks for giving us their douze pointes. Fabulous!
Many thanks to Jade, Andrew, Diane and BBC. You all did a brilliant job and raised UK's reputation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Hope they start getting more good results now and return to the good old days with lots of top 3-5 results that I think loads of people miss.
I am really happy that UK scored really well this year with a lovely. It was one of my favourites. I hope that they keep scoring high in the future with good songs and that those memories of their disappointing results in the past few years due to political voting will be erased. Here's to a fresh start for UK and all the best for the future for Jade who performed beautifully in Moscow. Excellent work! I hope that the same formula that was used this year to select the UK representative and song will stay the same from now on.
I hope this has been a turning point for the UK and we will now continue to take the contest more seriously by sending good prformers with strong songs. Graham Norton did a great job, he was funny but also informative and best of all, he wasn't as intrusive as Terry Wogan, who used to talk over the songs with silly comments.
very good song! we gave 8 points(serbia) and i think she was favourite of Jelena Tomasevic (she was in jury)
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