After years of almost constant disappointment, the UK came within spitting distance of a Eurovision victory. Shame about the collateral damage …
What can the Eurovision song contest teach us about the human condition? Some years, not much except that we like shiny things; this year, that we all thirst for justice, support the victim against the aggressor, are overwhelmed by the sight of love and courage – and therefore, Ukraine was bound to win. In fact, if winning were all that mattered, it would have been quicker for the rest of Europe to not turn up. But (another lesson) winning is not all that matters.
It’s horribly poignant to recall that last year we were mainly complaining about peace, as a song topic. “Not more bloody harmony,” we cavilled, as we patiently waited for the next Nordic duo, close harmonising and asking, “Why war?” “Enough international love already!” Ah, the hollow cynicism of peacetime. Wouldn’t it be great to be hollow and cynical again, and not have to take a song’s metaphors about a nation’s destroyed infrastructure so literally.
Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
