A snobbish attitude to the Eurovision Song Contest

On The Guardian's online portal, Keith Kahn-Harris detects a touch of snobbery in British and Irish attitudes to the Eurovision Song Contest: "The standard way of watching Eurovision in the UK is to treat it as a fiesta of 'so bad it's good' TV in which naive continentals demonstrate their charming misunderstandings of the Anglo-American popular music idiom. ... When the former eastern bloc countries began to enter the contest, they entered their top creative talents. ... A large part of the UK's slump (and Ireland's too) is a result of the mediocrity of their entries. ... The UK and Ireland's attitudes to Eurovision - once genial, good-natured mockery - now look increasingly petulant, like deliberate self-sabotage. ... We can no longer assume that Europeans will take notice of and respect Britain without an effort to communicate and engage with the rest of Europe."

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