Naff, awful, rubbish….these are just a few of the adjectives some people use to describe the Eurovision Song Contest. Personally I prefer glitzy, glamorous and fun!

OK, perhaps the songs are a bit tacky and it is somewhat camp, but I believe the positives far outweigh the negatives in this celebration of all things European. As well as being entertaining it also teaches us a great lesson in appreciating our neighbours and learning about other countries, which is why I will be letting my two little girls stay up to watch the songs on Saturday night. And we’ll no doubt look for each country on our globe and maybe we’ll even colour in some flags.And for them it will be doubly exciting as they will be rooting for both Spain and the UK.

The thing with Eurovision is it mustn’t be taken too seriously. It is what it is, it’s a tongue-in-cheek celebration of European music and culture. It’s entertainment, pure and simple, with a huge array of different styles of music and fashion. It’s an evening where you find gala dresses alongside folk costumes, opera mixed with Euro pop.