Europe's 'political' song festival

This year, Malta's song, like most years, looked like the winner; it was well written, well presented and performed to perfection. Unfortunately, these are not the prerequisites for the Eurovision winning song as politics always comes into play and countries vote for their neighbours. We should not be under any illusion that Malta's song will ever be a winner just because it is generally a good song.

The voting system is one big joke, inefficient and full of politics and although all our performances, so far, have been to the international standards required and presented by some of the best ambassadors for our islands, it must be very disheartening for them to know that the result of their performance has nothing to do with how good the actual song and its presentation are.

When did we last hear a Eurovision winning song played on a radio station for years on end? Those who are old enough may remember the success of Eurovision songs that became classics, such as Brotherhood of Man's Save Your Kisses For Me, Sandy Shaw's Puppet On A String and Cliff Richard's Congratulations, which came second to a "thigh wielding" French singer with a song called La la la. However, it was Congratulations that went on to become a classic and is sung at most celebrations while La la la has never been heard of since. Still the thigh did win.

Next year we know how to win, as well as presenting a good song as usual; we need it to be sung by a scantily dressed woman, backed by equally scantily dressed dancers and make sure that we influence our neighbours by sending them a hamper for Christmas.

On Again... Off Again will be ringing in our ears for many years to come. Well done.