Better sneak them out the back exit. There’s a pretty ugly crowd out there.
I’m taking it as read that many of you think a terribly bad thing happened tonight in the Hartwall Areena. I’m not so certain. There’s only one of the 10 qualifiers that came – in isolation – as a total surprise. Even Slovenia, which I had to finish bottom 7, I can see why it’s there. And the 10th of the 10 was one of the other fella’s pre-contest favourites.
I can see why Switzerland and Denmark aren’t there – saw that coming, purely based on the quality levels not being quite there. Norway, Netherlands… close but no cigar. Belgium I couldn’t hand on heart say “Yes” about. Check the blog.
So that brings us to OnEurope’s favourite Andorrans. I’m not sure what happened there. The boos you heard were not, in and of themselves, because all the qualifiers were east of Slovenia. To my mind, they were pure and simple because the word “Andorra” did not appear in the final envelope. As far as I can judge without seeing the TV show, that’s the *only* thing that looks a bit travestyish.
There might be a problem here, all the same. Perceptions are important, and when something looks bad, it’s easy not to delve a bit deeper. Been there, done that, when I walked out of the voting in Istanbul three years ago.
It’s easy to say “Something’s got to be done.” It’s less easy to work out precisely what the problem is that needs to be solved (if there is one), and quite what the “something” is that would solve it.
So yep. Careful now, down with this sort of thing, but there’s still another act of this pan-continental drama to be played out on Saturday night… and OnEurope is waiting with great anticipation for the denouement.