Any TV show that features a Finnish woman in Cathy Gale boots singing “ja tanssin sun kaa vaik häävalssin mut nakuna” while standing on a giant golden microphone that has a shower of sparks shooting from one end is all right with me – I love Eurovision and always have. But these days, the Finnish women standing on giant microphones, the silliness of it, the campery, the fun, it comes with an edge, a catch. Listen closely and you can hear the discordant notes, the jeers and the sneers.

The sneers, to be fair, have always been there to some extent. Serious music fans – or people who tell themselves that’s what they are – have never rated Eurovision but I say: chill. This year’s contest featured a song about Laika, the Russian dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth in 1957 (“I hope she has a party in the air and always will / I hope Laika is alive”). It also featured a man in muscle-hugging lycra asking us to come and take a sip from his special cup (“Sh-sh-shake me good, sh-sh-shake me good”). Milkshakes. He’s talking about milkshakes.

But then there were the jeers. During the dress rehearsals, protesters tried to disrupt the performance of the Israeli singer Yuval Raphael by shouting and blowing whistles and waving Palestinian flags; there was also an attempt to throw paint at her during the final. Fortunately, Yuval has been practising how to get through demonstrations or distractions and the protesters were removed from the arena. It’s the second year Israel has been the focus of protests because of the war in Gaza and it raises again the question of how much politics should or shouldn’t be part of Eurovision.

The obvious answer is that it always has been. Terry........

© Herald Scotland