Let it be known that I'm crap at math, and that maybe, managing personal finances is entirely different from managing those of an entire country.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure that no matter what amount of monies you're talking about, pluses make bigger numbers and minuses make smaller ones.

Also, as far as I know, the general aim of financial management is to have bigger numbers without a minus in front of them, and the more minuses you add together the bigger the bloody damage.

Am I wrong?

As I said, I'm pretty crap at math so I might have been doing this all wrong, but when I'm broke I cut down on the silly stuff....you know the stuff that helps reduce the minuses and maintain the pluses, whilst still keeping me alive.

I cut down on haircuts, expensive wine, parties, and all that makes life a tad more worth living.

I pay my loans before buying the latest fashion trend and settle my electricity bill before buying a new car.

Again I could be doing it all wrong, but thankfully, because of the way pluses and minuses work in my world, these self-imposed austerity measures bring me back on my feet fairly quickly which means that I'm usually back buying ice cream and waxing my legs in no time.

So when I see countries like Spain and the UK throwing money at stuff like the Eurovision Song Contest, I just don't get it.

When I see countries like Albania and Romania whom we are constantly fundraising in aid of, acting like they're in a position to party away, I just don't get it.

When I see countries like Greece, using other people's money not to keep afloat, not to get the homeless off the streets, and not to keep their children in school, but to take part in a cheesy song contest, I don't get it.

Whilst I don't expect them to wallow in their misery, I'm pretty sure that indulging when you're already neck-deep in the brown stuff is, not a good idea.

Of course, Malta is not sitting on a bed of rose-scented money either, but from what I hear we're not in half the financial trouble that these countries are in.

And, let's face it, whilst we're still building ourselves a brand new Parliament, I guess we must keep the people happy by participating in the Eurovision.

Last night the Eurobitchin group on Facebook as well as Christian Peregin's and Alan Montanaro's running commentary on this paper, shot more than a few sarcastic jabs at Greece's financial situation, and by the end of it I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the winning country couldn't afford to host the contest.

After a bit of research it transpired that up until 1980 it was not unusual for winning countries to pass the buck to other countries which were willing to take on the hosting of the contest.

According to the official Eurovision Song Contest website, in 1960 the Dutch, who had won the contest the previous year, didn't want to play host, so they passed on the job to the UK.

This happened again n 1963 when the French won but passed on the hosting to the UK and in 1972 Monaco passed on its hosting responsibility to Edinburgh.

In 1974, Luxembourg once again passed on the hosting to the British BBC who embraced the invitation once again, and finally, in 1980 Israel passed on the hosting to the Dutch.

So whilst it doesn't seem to be the acceptable norm today, should we win (ever), we can always opt not to host the contest the year after.....just putting your minds at rest that's all.

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Sarcasm apart, as much as I hate most of the songs, I have to admit that every year I get enthralled by the hype of the contest, and every year, whether we do well or not, I end up feeling cheated.

What makes me shudder is not just the political voting, nor my bleeding ears, but the fact that in the 56 years that this contest has been going on, the rules have changed over thirty times. With the goal posts constantly changing I can't help but feel that no one stands a real chance in hell, least of all neighbour-less Malta.

Until next year of course, when like most of you, I will once again glue myself to the TV to watch the contest, and this time, in glorious HD!