Serbia - Eurovision Song Contest a sign of things to come: "New Europe and Asia grow, Britain losing influence" - by Stephen King
"What about Britain's influence in the continent's affairs? For an approximate answer, you have my daughter, Helena, to thank; or, more precisely, her geography teacher, a Mr Harris. He was the one who suggested Helena and her classmates conduct an analysis of voting patterns in last week's Eurovision Song Contest. Mr Harris clearly believed the voting would be biased, reflecting the jingoistic tendencies in individual countries. In reality the Serbs were helped out by other countries whose populations appear to have fond and long-lasting memories of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.
Nevertheless, the voting patterns show how Europe's political map has been redrawn since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This has all sorts of implications but, from Britain's point of view, the most obvious is a gradual loss of influence elsewhere in the world.
The world is changing. Eurovision is just one sign of things to come." Stephen King is managing director of economics at HSBC
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