TAKE IT AWAY PLEASE..

This photo shows a 94-year old member of the Salvation Army who, along with others, form a group which has just been selected to represent Switzerland in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmo, Sweden.   And good luck to them, but I wonder if I detect a growing trend by countries who are not that keen on winning it.   After all, the initial glory of victory in this most unlikely of competitions quickly fades when the winning country realises that it has got to host the next one, with all the grief, expense and technical challenges involved.

We in the UK woke up to it years ago - ever since 1997 when we won it with Katrina and the Waves our entries have been entirely forgettable and our places in the league table of results have mercifully declined at a steady rate.   Last year we came next to bottom thanks to Englebert Humperdink`s sterling determination and this year we will be represented by Bonnie Tyler, who has been holding out for a hero for getting on half a century.

Now I quite like Bonnie, aka Gaynor Hopkins - she of the big hair, big shoulder pads, big voice, big everything really - but I`m fairly sure her selection is pretty much to guarantee that we won`t win it again and thus be spared the glittering prize.  It`s not really a heartache though, or even anything approaching a total eclipse of the heart.  To be fair.