I have always been of the mind that Politics should be kept out of areas that it doesn't belong such as Sport and especially at events like the Eurovision Song Contest.
Due to their abhorrent treatment of the Palestinians, i have been boycotting all things Israel for as long as i can remember and although this years event was being held in Tel Aviv, i really didn't have the inclination to join in the chorus of people calling for a boycott or for protests against Israel hosting it.
The whole idea behind Eurovision was to bring Europe together after the War, a bit of fun, flamboyance and silliness for four hours once a year and that was how i wanted it to stay, above the nastiness and evil going on outside of the arena walls which we hear about far too much.
I took the opportunity when Madonna came on to remove my eyes from the screen for ten minutes so i missed her 'protest' which turned out to be a couple of flag wearing dancers, one with a Palestinian and one with Israel, walking off stage arm in arm and a call out to 'Wake Up'.
As protests go that's a pretty tame one but her sentiment is one we all should applaud and i didn't see it as a political protest at all although i refuse to accept that the United Kingdom came bottom due to political reasons, we just entered a really, really poor song once again.
There are times and places for political messages and protesting against wrongs but surely it's not at an event which is all about kitsch, camp and just having, as Fred Flintstone once said, a gay old time.
Congratulations to The Netherlands and it's off to Amsterdam next year then.
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