It's that time of year we've all been waiting for. Yes, the Eurovision Song Contest is back and live from Kiev.

The epitome of all that is camp and kitsch will be on our television screens tonight and watched by millions across Europe. Some will have a serious interest in the calibre of music on offer while others will simply revel in the comedy cult status of the competition and the bitchy displays of animosity on offer.

After all, for some countries this competition is an opportunity to regain national pride and a chance to confirm old loyalties, while hitting old enemies where it hurts, the ammunition being those immortal words "nil points".

While we may deride Eurovision and sit in our living rooms mocking the entrants, we can't deny this competition serves as a political barometer, measuring relations throughout Europe.

Never mind surveys and polls, if you want to quantify Britain's level of integration into the European Union, just look at the number of points we receive. Judging by the result in 2003, where Britain's dismal entry, Jemini, obtained no points at all, it looks as though we've got a long way to go.

While life today is ever changing, one can be reassured that Eurovision will provide some constants. The Franco-German alliance will be as obvious as ever, and while Turkey and Cyprus refuse to give each other even a point, the Scandinavian voting bloc will stick together like glue.

Although heavily criticised and likely to make your blood boil, this blatantly partial voting adds to the farcical charm of the event, enhanced of course, by Wogan and his witty observations. His Eurovision comments, now known as Terryisms, help us to make it through the night. With phrases such as "Oh look it's Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy," you just can't go wrong.

Indeed, it was Terry himself last year who identified the emergence of the new Eastern European voting bloc, yet another twist in the complex nature of Eurovision voting. Traditional European competitors such as Ireland and the Netherlands failed to make the grade this year and instead have being replaced by Eastern entrants such as Latvia, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania and Moldova. Following in the footsteps of their Scandinavian counterparts, it's likely this grouping too will generously give top marks to their neighbours creating yet more voting upheaval.

So with all these various voting cliques, we must ask ourselves who's going to vote for us?

Our entrant this year is Javine with Touch My Fire. The choice of song perhaps suggests where our loyalties lie these days as the tune has distinctive American R 'n' B tones and is far removed from bare-footed Sandy Shaw and her Puppet On A String. It has been branded as our best chance in years, but as we know it's all about points not performance. Sadly, I fear Javine will become yet another victim of the political and tactical vote.

Although partial voting now plagues Eurovision, this year's competition has a deeper political essence. The contest, now in its 50th year, is symbolic of the Ukraine's victory for democracy and freedom. In Kiev's main square where Eurovision memorabilia is being sold in abundance, it is hard to believe that only a matter of months ago, half a million citizens stood there protesting against the country's rigged elections.

Viktor Yushchenko's Orange Revolution has reinvigorated the country and there is a new mood in Kiev. The Ukraine's Eurovision entry is a political song praising their triumph over lies and deception and encapsulates the feelings of this now proud nation.

Although it's all a joke to us and we are inclined to scoff at the competition, we must remember for some, Eurovision symbolises a new dawn and a freedom certain countries could once only have wished for.

The fee for this column is donated to the York City FC Development Fund.

Updated: 15:50 Friday, May 20, 2005