Congratulations to Israel for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, in spite of the vocal Palestinian campaign interfering with the process.

“Next year in Jerusalem” is a common Jewish phrase, and the Eurovision rules are that the next contest will be in the country of the previous year’s winner. We may expect the same Palestinian campaigners to oppose this also.

On the other hand, what likelihood is there of success for the UK?

For a long time I have believed and said that the Eurovision Song Contest is the best popular indicator of Europe’s attitude toward Britain.

It has been so negative over the past 20 years that there is no difficulty in determining that Europe does not want the UK to remain in the EU; only the politicians want the UK – because they want our money.  The stage invasion during the UK’s singer’s song did not even elicit a sympathy vote, not that the UK wanted one.  The political nature of so much voting in recent decades has been such a disgrace that it is quite appropriate that Britain should confirm and endorse through Brexit its protest against European standards, and to teach the Europeans a more Christian way of individual and national behaviour.  Being voted down in the European Song Contest is no disgrace in such a climate, and Brexit is not only a reality but a necessity.  Indeed, so political is the voting that Israel almost dropped out from the competition last year.

However, one could hardly claim that Netta from Israel’s victory tonight was politically motivated.  It certainly goes against the trend, although political voting and campaigning was still evident.  Netta’s win is all the more remarkable in such a political climate, but is it any more remarkable than North Korea’s unilateral dismantling of its nuclear testing site?  We are living in exciting times and the world needs to learn that ‘the Lord God omnipotent reigns’ Revelation 19:6.

In her winner’s speech Netta thanked the crowd and the Eurovision voters “for celebrating diversity”.  This is one explanation for her victory, and it shows that this cultural extravaganza celebrates the latest and wierdest opinions.

From Austria’s transvestite 2014 winner to Graham Norton’s comment tonight on Serbia’s singer, “he has the slight look of a cult leader with his three sister-wives”, the Eurovision Song Contest is a symbol and a commentary on our times, and as such the UK has no reason to bemoan its current lack of success.

The times are not unhopeful.  Mass media is recording for posterity the banality of secular culture and how much human talent is wasted on such strange ventures.  Coupled with the record of the barbarity of the 20th cenurty, it archives useful material for students in the Christian biblical Millennium who will find it difficult to believe that talented and intelligent human beings could invest so much time, money and effort in such banal and/or barbaric activities.

As evangelist John Wesley once said of Newcastle: “it is ripe for mercy.”

The Lord Jesus Christ’s agenda is on track and on time.  We are proceeding apace to the Christian Millennium.  ‘For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry’ Hab 2:3.

Update:
14 May 2017 J.K. Rowling is attacked by embittered souls on Twitter for praising Israel’s Eurovision win.

18 May 2019: the UK was voted bottom in the politicised Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.  Some say it is because of Brexit but Britain has been out of favour with the Eurovision voters for a long time, from before the Brexit vote.

18 Mar 2021: the conjoint action of EU member states in questioning the safety of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was so obviously political that it is further evidence that many European leaders do not love the UK. Eventually they had to give in when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reaffirmed its earlier decision that it was safe.

24 May 2021: surprise, surprise! Britain scores ZERO points in the Eurovision Song Contest. It is not just the eurocrats in Brussels who wanted to control Britain, but we must face the fact that human beings are spiteful creatures who like to take vengeance on others. The message from Brexit was too much for them to bear. The border controls in Northern Ireland have been largely ignored but as soon as it affects Europeans, fury erupts. The failed leadership by those who cannot learn from history or human nature only demonstrates how much Europe and the world need the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

25 May 2021: Councillor Rhiannon Spear chairs the education committee at Glasgow City Council and tweets her hatred of the UK also. Suzanne McLaughlin, a List candidate along with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, tweets her hatred of those who support the Conservative Party. This hatred is as bad as some aggressive religions and demonstrates that secularism is another false religion with its heretics.

27 May 2021: BBC Question Time tonight tried to be light-hearted about the UK being awarded ‘null points’ in the Eurovision Song Contest, which is a typical British reaction to failure, a line followed by others, but it still points to the popular European opinion about the UK. It might even have reached the stage of Groupthink, with some European countries being afraid to even appear to support Britain. If not, and it truly reflects the sentiment of Europeans towards Britain, it demonstrates the fickle nature of human sentiment, which Jesus Christ experienced when He entered Jerusalem to the popular acclaim of the crowds, only to be cruelly rejected and then crucified within a week. It is a common experience in human history and should remind everyone that the only Master worth serving is the Lord Jesus Christ Who will not abandon His people for their failures but will reward the faithful service of His people.

“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and continue to do so.”

Hebrews 6:10

31 May 2022: the political virtue signalling of the Eurovision Song Contest.

25 Jul 2022: Britain will host the next Eurovision Song Contest after Ukraine, the politically correct winners of last year’s contest, are unable to do so.