Hungary Mourns Loss of Eurovision

Wow, and we thought we were sore losers! For some unfathomable reason, Hungary has decided to pull out of next year's Eurovision song contest. We say "unfathomable" because the country's return to the contest in 2005 was nothing short of triumphant, thanks to the bang-up job done by Szilvia Péter Szabó and the other members of NOX, who ended in a very respectable 12th place. According to the official Eurovision website, Hungarian state broadcaster MTV sent in its regrets because of "financial constraints." Unlike, for example, Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia and Ukraine, all of which have somehow come up with the euros to send their favorite manufactured pop stars to Athens for the 2006 finals. So there you have it: we're now officially poorer than Bosnia, and less pop than Albania. Well, at least it might move someone to write a catchy pop-ballad...