What does Europe mean to you?: 3

And so it begins again....has it really been a year?

The great machine of Eurovision is awakening and readying itself once more for action - and this time it should be more interesting than ever. Ok, so the cheese factor will (I hope) be high and the unintentional hilarity of the tunes / lyrics / costumes / presenters / voting regimes will be immense, demonstrating, as nothing else really can, the dark heart of the European Superstate.

This year, of course, there is the added bonus of how an austerity-hit Europe will cope. Will there be any protest songs? Will Greece attend (or more importantly will they give their favourite nation (in their least-favourite-nation poll) Germany any points at all)? And what of Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Italy - will they set out to punish the Euro (and Angela Merkel) through the Eurovision votes? Will France punish itself? Will the Euro bailout controversy smash (or strengthen) the traditional Baltic / Scandinavian / Balkan voting blocks? Will Britain benefit (or more likely will their 'told you so' stance to the Euro zone damage their chances further) and will Engleburt Humptyback be a vote winner for the UK (and ultimately who cares)? Will the overtly authoritarian state that is Azerbaijan be in any way affected (as the thick-headed, hard-line, testosterone fuelled machismo of Vladirmir Putin's government was back in 2009) by the influx of openly democratic values / Gay Pride / libertarianism / sub 1970s disco funk?

More important than all these concerns, however, is the prospect of finding a new song, a theme, for this year's Durotriges Big Dig Excavation. In 2010, the archaeological trenches of DBD resounded endlessly to the immaculately groomed Giorgos Alkaios (and his 'Friends') technofolkdiscostomp 'OPA',

the year before, in 2009, it had been the 'HeeeyHeyHey' Dancing Moldovian wearyourpantsonyourhead hit 'HORA DIN MOLDOVA' from Nelly Ciobanu,

whilst last year it was the brilliantly pointedhattedness of Moldova's (I'm sensing a pattern here) Teletubbies on Tartrazine Zdob si Zdub, with their amphetamine-fuelled trumpety 'SO LUCKY'

....but who will win the coveted title this year..(and can Moldova win the hat trick? - I've yet to see or hear this year's entry - Pasha Parfeny's 'LAUTAR' - so I can't, as yet sadly, comment)

Only 4 hours of semi finals and an epic 4 hours plus final this Saturday can resolve the matter.....

.....bring on the brawl !