I have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest from as young as I can remember, it was tradition, like Easter Eggs for Easter, always falling around half term, the family would park up the car and head down to Hobourne Caravan Park in Highcliff, near Bournemouth, where my grandparents on my dads side had a couple of chalets and a caravan.
I have fond memories of those simpler days, where we would spend a week with my nan and grandad for a proper British holiday, and that included the whole family gathering around the TV with fish and chips for Eurovision presented by TV legend Sir Terry Wogan.
Fast forwarding a little into young adulthood, Terry Wogan was still the host, treating the contest for what it was, and to a point what it still is, and the British take on the chessey musical event, we a dry piss-take humour, not taking it seriously with a rubber stamped Union Flag, secretly wishing to win and hoping not to get nil point.
For as long as I can remember the UK has never taken the Eurovision Song Contest seriously, well not until more recent times and the likes of X Factor and Britains Got Talent hit our screens, giving failed X Factor contestants a second desperate chance of Z List Fame with a god aweful song entry representing the UK.
We, even in recent years, got that serious, we brought in Andrew Lloyd Webber to front a TV song contest show to find our representative, we also in even more competitive we must win spirit had likes of Katie Price and Justin Hawkins from The Darkness in hope that their popularity not only in the UK would give us a fighting chance, but it was like people forgot the elephant in the room, Europe hated the UK, the Balkans voted for eachother, and Euro-pact countries would vote for each other, often leaving UK with Nil points. Now back in the day, in more innocent times, we just didnt give a fuck, we watched Eurovision with the sole mission to take the piss, and follow Terrys lead, lets face it, many of the shittest songs ever written and performed have been Eurovision entries, and quite often they have been the ones that won.
I used to love Eurovision, during my time living in London with the then girlfriend, we got hold of tickets to what was called the Alternative Eurovision, the main show was aired on BBC1 as usual, and on BBC2, was an alternative show, filmed in the Top of The Pops studio, I remember rubbing shoulders with likes of Liam Gallaghar and his wife at the time Nichole Appleton, Katrina from Katrina & The Waves and Gina G who both represented UK in the Eurovision.
Back in the day we took the Eurovision Song Contest for what it was, a cheesy crap song contest that gave Europe the chance to take a pop at the UK by leaving us with nil points and just not give a fuck! It was fun, it was innocent, today is a different story, and I think most of the UK like myself has fallen out of love with it, especially those of us that grew up with Terry as our lead piss taker.
I cant think when things changed, it went from an innocent shit song contest to a contest with a serious political undertone that has left the contest taken over by wokism, extremeist political and religious and lifestyle views, and shoving them down our throats. Its a platform for activists, and no longer fun, all presented by the insufferable irritating Graham Norton!
This year, it just seems to have got even more about activism, politics, giving so called artist on stage to take a pop at who they feel offends them! Well for me, every one of these fucktards ofend me, they offend my ears, with their shit songs and woke activist bullshit!
Its a shame, the days of Eurovision with Terry at the helm, will be times I will fondly remember, smile and laugh about, this year, the Song Contest takes place in Vienna this Sunday with a turquoise carpet parade featuring this year a lighter field that usual, as several countries have decided to boycott the contest due to Israel being allowed to take part.
Its a real shame, as this year is also the 70th Anniversary of the show, instead of celebrating with pure cheese with a dash off British piss-take, this year will be over shadowed by an angry row over the participation of Israel.
Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have all decided to boycott the event due to Israel’s military operation in Gaza since October 2023.
The incursion came in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israel, that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, Israeli authorities say. Israel’s offensive has killed 72,628 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led health authority.
A ceasefire deal has been in effect since 10 October 2025.
During the most recent Eurovision contests in Malmö (2024) and Basel (2025), anti-Israel protesters filled the streets and Israel’s participants were given armed guards.
Last year, Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the 7 October attacks, told the BBC she had “practised being booed” during rehearsals. During the final, two protesters attempted to storm the stage as she performed her song New Day Will Rise.
Things came to a head when Yuval’s song unexpectedly topped the public vote (she ultimately took second place, due to a lower score from the contest’s songwriting juries).
Some countries claimed the public tally had been influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s official social media channels, who had repeatedly urged followers to vote for New Day Will Rise – an unusual step for a government.
At a meeting last November, several countries tried to force a vote on Israel’s presence at the contest. When the proposal failed, the withdrawals included Spain, one of the contest’s biggest financial supporters, and seven-time winners Ireland.
It has left fans in a quandary.
‘Never felt more divided’
Eurovision is uniquely intertwined with its fan community.
Fan websites and blogs are given equal billing to traditional media during the contest itself, sitting alongside organisations like the BBC and the New York Times in the press centre and attending press conferences with the acts.
Such sites post year-round updates and analysis of contestants, stagings, voting predictions and rehearsals from selection shows right up to the grand final.
“The fan base is very important for the commercial dimension of Eurovision,” explains Dean Vuletic, author of the book Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest.
“When it comes to merchandising, when it comes to ticket sales, the fans are really the ones fuelling this Eurovision industry. They’re the ones you can count on to attend the contest, even when it becomes mired in political controversy.”
But in the wake of the boycott, some fan sites have suspended their coverage.
“The Eurovision we once knew, that shaped this community and inspired us to create this channel, just isn’t the one we fell in love with all those years ago,” wrote the team behind Eurovision Hub, external, a cross-continental fan page.
“We no longer recognise the Eurovision Song Contest we grew up with,” agreed Ireland’s Eirevision podcast, external. “A contest founded on unity, peace, and connection has never felt more divided.”
Others have tried to find a middle ground.
Welsh Eurovision fan Philip Dore posted an excellent, empathetic article on the ESC Insight website, simply titled: “So, what do Eurovision fans do now?, external“
“For some people, the Eurovision Song Contest is far more than just a bunch of songs,” he noted.
“Eurovision’s links to LGBTQ+ identity – both on a personal and societal level – are well-documented. Rather less understood, but no less powerful is the contest’s links to neurodiversity.”
With that in mind, he outlined potential approaches for conflicted fans. These included everything from an outright boycott, to a “halfway” option of following the build-up and dropping out when events moved to Vienna.
“This isn’t an easy situation for anyone,” Dore noted. “Many people in the community are feeling a mix of sadness, anger, and loss, and I have no intention of adding judgment to anyone.”
‘I couldn’t miss it’
Despite that, social media feeds have been filled, external with the usual cavalcade, external of Eurovision photos, jokes and interviews, external as the contest approaches.
Tickets for this year’s nine final events in Vienna sold out in record time. Every seat at the grand final was snapped up in just 14 minutes.
“To see every single show sell out so quickly is a powerful reminder of what the Eurovision Song Contest represents – joy, togetherness and shared experience at a time when that feels more important than ever,” said Eurovision’s director, Martin Green.
The reality is a little more nuanced.
“It still feels exciting. It still feels like something that I couldn’t miss. And, that said, it feels different,” says Rob Lilley-Jones, host of the UK-based Euro Trip podcast., external
“There’s still that fun element but now, and for the last few years, you are going into Eurovision week with a sense of apprehension and nervous anticipation.”
Heightened security and backstage tensions in Malmö made the 2024 contest “the worst it’s been”, he says.
Marcos Maximillian Tritremmel, president of Austria’s Eurovision fan club, remembers the atmosphere vividly.
He understands why protesters object to Israel’s presence. “But when you get yelled at on your way into a concert hall – ‘What are you doing here? Why are you supporting the genocide?’ – at that point, it stops being funny,” he told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, external.
Lilley-Jones says scenarios like that have made him question whether to continue his podcast, but he feels keeping going “still feels like the right thing to do” if the contest “can still bring joy to people in what is a very difficult situation around the world, not just in the Middle East”.
That seems to be the prevailing attitude: It’s better to remain in dialogue with one another than to foster further divisions.
With his bird’s-eye view of the contest, Vuletic says the contest will weather this controversy, as it has done many times before.
“I get asked this question very often: is this the most political Eurovision ever? But when we look back, there are so many Eurovisions that have been struck by political controversies.”
He cites Moscow in 2009, when police violently broke up a gay pride rally that had been timed to coincide with the contest, or Azerbaijan in 2012, when the contest was staged by a dictatorship that suppressed political dissent.
The 2012 contest’s eventual winner, Loreen, of Sweden, made a point of meeting local activists, saying: “Human rights are violated in Azerbaijan every day. One should not be silent about such things.”
“The media tends to sensationalise the current moment but we’ve always had to navigate the political context [of the contest],” says Vuletic.
“And the fans have always kept coming, no matter what.”
Eurovision organisers will undoubtedly do their best to put politics in the background this week – though Austria’s broadcaster has confirmed it will not ban Palestinian flags or censor any audience booing, external in Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle.
But viewing figures will inevitably shrink, with broadcasters in Spain, Slovenia and Ireland not airing any coverage. (Devoted fans can still watch on YouTube, however).
And no-one’s quite sure what the fallout will be if Israel wins. Their entry Michelle, external, by 28-year-old singer Noam Bettan, is one of this year’s stronger ballads.
Fans, who’ve already been through the wringer, will be watching with even more trepidation than usual.
Entertainment Swindon 
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