AND so one of the great annual highlights on the TV calendar has been and gone.

The international bun fest that is the Eurovision Song Contest never disappoints with its mix of high camp, the downright bizarre and the undercurrent of political intrigue.

People get on their high horse about the UK never having a chance due to the blatantly political voting and saying we should pull out of the whole thing. But that’s missing the point. Accrington Stanley will never win the Champions League but that doesn’t stop the fans supporting them.

Let’s face it if Girls Aloud performed the UK entry in swimwear we’d still not win, so get over it.

It’s best to treat Eurovision as a show of two halves. For the first section you get some of the daftest performances you’re likely to see. Forget Britain’s Got Talent, Eurovision’s collection of scantily clad maidens and hirsute blokes wielding angle grinders is genuinely entertaining.

Then comes the politcal wrangling which make a meeting of the United Nations look tame.

To add the to surreal nature of the show, this year the Russian Foreign Minister no less has accused someone of stealing their votes. Who says it’s not a serious competition?