The Joyful Diversity and Wackiness of Eurovision

Our scoresheets from this evening's Eurovision Song Contest

This year's Eurovision Song Contest (the 69th) has just wrapped, with Austria's JJ (performing Wasted Love) pipping Israel's Yuval Raphael (performing New Day Will Rise) to the top spot.

As we usually do, Rachel and I watched the grand final avidly, logging our own scores for all the acts, then totalling them up at the end to find out who we reckon should have won.

Neither of us particularly rated the winning song (although I did think that JJ had a very impressive voice).

Instead, our winners were Sweden's KAJ with their song about saunas - Bara Bada Bastu - closely followed by Switzerland's lovely Voyage (sung by Zoë Më) in second place.

No longer just a Saturday night event, Eurovision is a week of entertainment now that the BBC has started screening the two semi-finals on the Tuesday and Thursday before the grand climax.

And, for me, it's a highlight of the year that I look forward to months in advance.

As well as a great way to sample diverse approaches to popular music from around the world, Eurovision is the ultimate "safe space" where acts are free to be themselves and let rip: which often results in some wonderful craziness.

With its themes of optimism and unity, the show is another exemplar of my beloved principle of "lovely people doing lovely things".

Beyond the music itself, we then have the delights of the eccentric voting system, which - as a stats geek - I enjoy almost more than the music. 

First we get in the votes from the professional judging panels of all the countries involved (that is ALL the countries, not just the 26 taking part in the final).

Then, once we know who the professional panels liked, we go through all the acts and add in the telephone votes from around the world, which - as an example of transparent democracy in action - often shakes things up dramatically.

The voting is such fun, and has to be seen to be believed.

However, for me, the musical highlight of this evening was this mashup from of two of my favourite acts from previous Eurovisions - Käärijä & Baby Lasagna - which truly encapsulates the joyful insanity of the contest:

The final scores for 2025 - judging panels + public vote

Next year: we're off to Austria!

"Lovely People Doing Lovely Things!"

The Strictly judges practicing with their '10' paddles for tonight's final

It's only mildly hyperbolic to say that this millennium's Twenties aren't so much "roaring" as "screaming and sobbing".

Nevertheless,  I've still managed to find solace in my oldest friend: television.

Not just from the brilliance of my usual high-quality geeky escapist fare, across multiple channels and streaming platforms, but in the unexpected genre of "reality television".

More specifically from two shows I've always enjoyed, but have recently found to be the pick-me-up I needed.

I'm talking about The Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing.

Two shows that, at their core, are about lovely people doing lovely things.

"Life-affirming viewing," as my old friend Pete says.

We choose to gloss over the Strictly blip the other year when the mask (allegedly) slipped on a couple of the pro's harsh teaching methods.

You just have to contrast this pair of delightful shows with ITV's offering of family-friendly torture porn in the shape of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here to realise why Bake Off and Strictly are precisely what the country - if not the world - needs right now.

Shows that thrive on negativity (such as I'm A Celebrity) need to be consigned to the dustbin of televisual history, along with shows looking to mimic the 'gotcha' shock of The Jeremy Kyle Show and the heavily orchestrated 'reality' of talent shows following in the soiled footsteps of The X-Factor.

Both Strictly and Bake Off are good natured shows about striving for excellence, with friendly camaraderie and sportsmanship, devoid of any sense of degradation or humiliation in the process.

Everyone who takes part in these shows seems to be a genuinely pleasant person, whether a celeb on Strictly or a member of the public on Bake Off.

Honestly, I can only think of one contestant in all the years Rachel and I have watched Strictly that I wouldn't enjoy bumping into at a party... barking mad, right-wing loony Ann Widdecombe.

But her inclusion in the 2010 line-up feels like an aberration. 

I'm not saying that 2025 is going to be much better than last year, but it certainly wouldn't hurt the mood of the country to have more television programmes that follow the encouraging recipe of these two very British staples of light entertainment.

The Class of '24: This year's Great British Bake Off contestants