Poor song selection

So, has the fact that the Malta Song Board gave Lou Bondì a chance to redeem himself now turned Song for Europe into a commendable event?

Joking apart, and given a couple of good songs, this year's final songs left much to be desired. The local judging panel in the first two phases of selection unfortunately did not seem to have been very qualified for the task, seeing that they thought it appropriate to regale us with a replica of one of the favourites of 2005, and another song reminiscent of the 1930s sounding a bit like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. But the Eurovision Song Contest is a strange animal and you never know what might have happened if...! Remember Nocturne?

Surely we can do better than this! I sincerely hope so. May we please revert to selection of the semi-finals and final song by an international jury as was done in the past? This would eliminate political and popularity bias which in our little island is unavoidably rampant.

For music's sake, cross-border voting is a bad enough hurdle to overcome in the Eurovision. I do not agree with the minister when, just before the contest on Saturday and referring to 100 per cent televoting, he said that if we Maltese could select our own government then we could jolly well select our own song for Europe. This can work in the rest of Europe but not in tiny, insignificant Malta with our village culture.