Welcome to the latest Entertainment Rant opinion column. This week it's about what can be done to improve the UK's fortunes in the Eurovision song contest. Join the debate by adding your comments.

EUROVISION is of course a very camp, very silly and totally meaningless excuse of a singing contest which shouldn’t be taken seriously.

It’s three hours of musical daftness which comes around once a year, giving us all a chance to snigger at our Euro friends singing about apricots and the like while dressed up in ridiculous costumes.

Despite this, it’s always good to see the UK do well in the competition as we show those tuneless Europeans how pop music should be sung.

It’s also a dent to national pride when we do poorly, such as coming last on Saturday, a position we’ve now occupied three times out of the last eight years.

While bizarre politically or at least culturally motivated voting patterns may have been responsible for our dismal showing in previous years, there can be no such allegations this time around with the eclectic mix of Germany, Turkey, Romania and Denmark taking the top positions.

Nobody would shed any tears if we didn’t bother with this event in future but if we are going to persist we need to step up our game.

This year’s song was pretty woeful, even by Eurovision entry standards.

Songwriter Pete Waterman has never had much credibility, which perhaps made him ideal for Eurovision, but he hasn’t put out a decent pop song since the days of Kylie and co some 20 years ago.

Perhaps we need someone a bit more current and cool to pen next year’s ditty.

Also the selection process for choosing our Eurovision hopeful needs to change.

Teenager Josh Dubovie may go on to carve out a good singing career but the British public was wrong to pick him for this year’s contest.

He was like a lamb to the slaughter up against more established acts from other countries, lacking the presence for such a big occasion.

Next year we need a Leona, an Alexandra, a Cheryl – a proper pop star who can steal the show, if they’ve got the guts to represent their country in this continental sing-off.

Even Bucks Fizz would stand a better chance than the cannon fodder we’ve been sending.

If the combination of a credible songwriter and top-class act still doesn’t yield success it’s time to think about whether the UK should continue entering.

It’s not about being bad losers, it’s just there comes a point when it becomes embarrassing – and when the lunacy of Eurovision becomes embarrassing there really is a problem.

This column in no way reflects the official position of News Shopper or its parent company.

Are you a Eurovision fan? Did you enjoy this year's contest despite the UK failing so badly? What would you do to improve our chances next time? Should we even bother entering this competition again? Add your comments below.

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