Political song festival

This year Malta's song, like most years, looked like a winner; it was well written, well presented and performed to perfection. Unfortunately these are not the requisites for a song to win the Eurovision contest, as politics always comes into play and every country votes for its 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, full of politics and although all our singers' 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 is the actual song and its presentation.

When did we last hear a Eurovision winning song played on a radio station for years on end, if not for the first few weeks perhaps? Those who are old enough remember the success of Eurovision songs that became classics, such as Brotherhood of Man's Save all 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 singer, backed by equally scantily dressed dancers and make sure that we influence our neighbours by sending them a Christmas hamper.

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