Singer says we need to 'get smart'

Mickey Joe Harte and his fan club were preparing to fly home from Latvia last night after a disappointing result in Saturday's Eurovision.

Speaking in Riga, surrounded by some of his 300 supporters, the singer was philosophical about his 11th place.

But he suggested that future Irish contestants would need more resources to compete with entries such as Turkey's big-production winner.

"The Eurovision is changing," he said. "We need to get smart in Ireland if we're going to win from now on."

Ireland's disappointment was nothing, however, compared with that in the UK, where fans were coming to terms with their first "nul points" finish in the competition's history.

Some, including BBC presenter Terry Wogan, blamed European antipathy over Britain's role in Iraq.

And the setback was compounded for Liverpudlian duo Jemini when their dressing room was wrecked by vandals after the show.

Jemini's manager said no other performers' dressing room was vandalised.

But while the writer of the British entry suggested the war was to blame, pop impresario Louis Walsh said the pair deserved to come last.

Asked if Iraq had anything to do with the song's poor result, he said: "No, it was terrible. It's like somebody went into Boots, found the first person they saw behind the counter, asked them if they could sing and they said 'no', but they picked them anyway.

"The thing was just a disgrace, the worst song I have ever heard, and so out of tune they deserved to be last."

However, one critic of the war, British Labour MP Mr Jeremy Corbyn, disagreed. "People across Europe are fed up with Britain's over-close relationship with the US and arrogance in the rest of the world and the war in Iraq demonstrates this."

The vote was "the biggest opinion poll taken in a very long time on anything," he said.

"The fact there is huge anti-Britain feeling is something those who supported the war should think about a bit more.

But former Europe minister Mr Peter Hain denied the flop had anything to do with the war: "I very much doubt it. Maybe it wasn't a good enough song, although it sounded good enough to me."