please empty your brain below
Clever map. Yeah, my immediate - slightly politically incorrect - thought, when I heard who had won was, "I wonder when Eurovision will actually be held in Europe again?"

Pamela | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 4:42 a.m. | #

I think they should hold the show next year in Kamchatka. In order for it to be at 2100 CET Saturday, the show would needs to be at 0800 local time on the Sunday morning!

Mark | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 7:53 a.m. | #

I don't know why the UK bothers entering these days. The Irish had the right idea with the turkey.

SSS | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 10:08 a.m. | #

There is definately an eastern bloc bias but also a very strong bias towards those countries that sang towards the end.

If you split the votes, 4 of the top 5 were consistant across eastern bloc and non-eastern bloc voting and two of those were eastern bloc and two from the more traditional Eurovision countries. All 4 were sung in the last third of the contest.

Non Eastern Bloc votes (19 countries)
Armenia 103
Greece 93
Norway 90
Ukraine 76
Russia 75

Eastern Bloc votes (24 countries)
Russia 190
Ukraine 152
Greece 119
Azerbaijan 103
Norway 92

The UK got limited points due to a pleasant but instantly forgettable song sung early in the contest.

Mark | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 12:37 p.m. | #

I see than San Marino, Andorra and Monaco are represented on the map, but where's Lichtenstein?

Gareth H | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 12:53 p.m. | #

Liechtenstein isn't allowed to enter because it has no eligible TV service, apparently.

(I didn't know that before)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 1:11 p.m. | #

That link reminded me that Libya could theoretically take part as well as the Vatican. Pity that they don't really as I'd love to see what they'd come up with.

Gareth H | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 5:05 p.m. | #

Very clever map, Diamond Geezer. I didn't watch much of the programme (just the tail end) as it has become such an Eastern bloc love-in for the past few years. This year was even worse and Terry Wogan's narration at the end was very prescient, asking whether the UK should consider whether to take part next year.

goodbyetoallfat | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 6:20 p.m. | #

I am jealous of your geodemographic data thingy...what are you using?

Bina | 25.05.08 - 6:33 p.m. | #

maybe next year we will see a new entry with the pope doing a fabulous eurobeat version of tom lehrer's 'vatican rag'

steve | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 7:36 p.m. | #

No, Libya could not enter, as it is in the continent of Africa. Russia is in Europe.

Those that don't know that, go back to school !!

Europe ends at it's eastern extremity at the Urals, which is why Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Europe and NOT Mont Blanc. But you try telling that to the French.

Its all pointless anyway.

Just look at the importance of British music by way of world sales, and compare that to one of the ...stans that now appear. Compare it also to sales of Russian music around the world.

I hope Wogan doesn't chuck in the towel as he gives it a good humourous side.

Nice Map, DG.

pondlife | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 8:55 p.m. | #

Good grief, the rest of the world (aka Terry Wogan) has finally woken up to the reality that first dawned on me about 15 years ago when I stopped watching such a biased contest.

Oh, and, I thought we'd nailed the less/fewer thing? Must have been the shock of the voting

Blue Witch | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 9:11 p.m. | #

Pondlife... I agree with you on the geography with one notable exception - Israel. It is not part of continental Europe, being clearly on the Asian continent.

agr8one | Homepage | 25.05.08 - 10:13 p.m. | #

Sometimes the less/fewer dilemma can be avoided by using "under". It would have worked here.

trad or anon | 25.05.08 - 10:21 p.m. | #

Well, whether Armenia,Georgia or (especially) Azerbaijan are in Europe is highly questionable.

I second the suggestion that the contest be held in Kamchatka (or Anadyr) next year!

I think Serbia should have won, again, actually - their song was in a different class entirely from the rest.

Venichka | 25.05.08 - 11:21 p.m. | #

Political voting is definitely a problem in Eurovision. I would also imagine it's something that the EBU is under pressure to resolve, judging by the fact that the disadvantaged Western European countries (including the UK) provide the lion's share of the funding.

As for geography, Morocco participated in the contest in 1980.

Andrewh | 26.05.08 - 12:14 a.m. | #

Of course, Eastern Europe didn't do very well in the contest for the first 30 years...

diamond geezer | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 12:28 a.m. | #

Could we not split the UK into England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland and - in the spirit of the Eurovision song contest (!) - vote for each other?

Sparkly Songbird | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 1:05 a.m. | #

A sad pedant writes:

If the voting epicentre is now in Russia, that means the centre of voting is some miles (km) below Russia.

You've confirmed that it is mainly troglodytes that vote in Eurovision.

Epicentre does not mean the 'centre-est centre that is really a very centered sort of centre' - it means the point on the earth's surface that is directly above the underground focus of an earthquake.

Anonymous | 26.05.08 - 8:03 p.m. | #

To take part in the ESC a country needs to be a member of the European Broadcasting Union. The criteria for membership are only loosely based on geography as Israel is a member but Liechtenstein is not (it doesn't have a TV station)

Uroskin | Homepage | 27.05.08 - 3:41 a.m. | #

Nice to see your map turning up in another of my favourite blogs: 'Strange Maps':
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com...-text-map-2008/

Mark | Homepage | 27.05.08 - 11:20 p.m. | #

Could we not split the UK into England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland and - in the spirit of the Eurovision song contest (!) - vote for each other?

Only if accompanied by a bloody civil war and ethnic cleansing. And even then, I think the Celtic nations would be less likely to vote for England than the former Yugoslav republics for Serbia.

pseudonymous in nc | 02.06.08 - 5:13 p.m. | #

Must have been the shock of the voting http://flee.ru

simm | Homepage | 07.06.08 - 10:40 p.m. | #











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