Ryan Dolan with Only Love Survives, the song we both think is going to win tonight's Irish final

Good morning Boom Bang a Bloggers! Tonight sees Irish telly broadcast the national final for the all-time Eurovision champs in what is becoming its annual home of The Late Late Show, the country's biggest talk show.

Thank you to everybody who took part in our poll, Fifty per cent of you think that Ryan Dolan will win through tonight with Only Love Survives and the other four acts were fighting for the scraps, to be honest.

If you live outside the Irish Republic, you can follow the show - the first Jedward-less one for three years - online here and here.

Marty Whelan is one of the panellists this evening. perhaps we should run another poll on how it takes him to have a random dig at the UK...

Thank you to everyone who took part in this poll (all 87 of you). The majority of you do NOT think that Cascada is a rip-off of Glorious.

YES (it is a rip-off): 33.33% NO (it's not a rip-off): 66.67%

END OF UPDATE

Glorious by Cascada, Germany's entry for Eurovision 2013

Euphoria by Loreen, Sweden's entry for Eurovision 2012

I got a phone call this morning, asking if I would be willing to appear on a local radio phone-in (think it was Coventry, I was very bleary-eared). They wanted someone who liked thier Contest to discuss the bewing scandal that the recently selected German entry for 2013, Glorious by Cascada - you may remember them evacuating a dancefloor - sounds just like the 2012 winner Euphoria. I couldn't go on due to work commitements and it was probably better I didn't. I have to be honest, I just don't hear anything Euphoric in Glorious. In fact, it feels rather flat and meandering in comparison to the reason why we're off to Malmo in May. I have asked other people what they think though and, from what I'm told, it's the hookline itself that is the main culprit, copyright-wise.

However, I'm only one person - and I'd be interested to hear what you think. Is Glorious a rip-off of Euphoria? Have a listen to the videos posted above, compare and contrast, cogitate, then vote below and we'll decide once and for all!*

I'll give you until midnight tonight (UK time) to vote and I'll be back with the results tomorrow.

*And, of course, so will the music expert who's been specigically called in to determine if there's a plagiarism case or not.

Meðal Andanna, the song Michael James Down co-wrote for Birgitta Haukdal in this year's Icelandic final. It didn't make it to Eurovision - but he's got a few others up his sleeve

On Saturday night in Reykjavik, Iceland made its choice for Eurovision 2013. That choice was overwhelmingly Eyþór with the stirring Ég á líf but among the ranks fighting for the ticket to Malmo was Iceland's 2003 entrant Birgitta Haukdal, making a comeback 10 years after her turn in Riga. Her song, Meðal Andanna, came courtesy of a team of songwriters who are not only card-carrying Eurovision fans but a collective talent that's making an impact on the number of selections taking place this year.

We caught up with team member Michael James Down (the gentleman to your right, who was known to join us North West fans at a few meet-ups for a Babycham or two when he was based in Manchester) to find out how everyone is coping after Saturday night's disappointment - and unwittingly give him the chance to be teasingly cryptic about what else he has in store this national final season.

At 7pm (UK time) the first heat in this year's Melodifestivalen takes place in Karlskrona, Sweden. The biggest national final there could possibly be, this year's Eurovision hosts are unlikely to put on a half-hearted show. While we can only dream of such large-scale finals in the UK (and while we're still waiting for an official announcement of sorts from the BBC about this year's act), you can follow the show - which, even though it's a first heat, will look and feel just like a Eurovision final - over the internet. There are two links you can follow. This one and this one. And if you can't be in front of a computer screen this evening (perhaps you're spending your Saturday evening at bingo, at a church hall dance or sorting your loft insulation), then you can follow all the schlager fun on Boom Bang a Blog's Twitter feed. If you don't follow us on Twitter at the moment, you should be able to follow via this embedded Tweet below.

Boom Bang a Blog will be live tweeting about the first heat of Sweden's Melodifestivalen this evening. It's only polite, they are our hosts.

— Boom Bang a Blog (@boombangablog) February 2, 2013

Before all the fun begins - and reports suggest this won't be the strongest heat of the four - here are the eight songs taking part tonight. David Lindgren is thought to be something of a shoe-in for the Melodifestivalen final in March.

David Lindgren - Skyline
Cookies N Beans - Burning Flags
Jay-Jay Johanson - Paris)
Mary N'diaye - Gosa
Eric Gadd - Vi kommer aldrig att förlora
YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel
Anna Järvinen - Porslin
Michael Feiner & Caisa - We're Still Kids

Hope you can join us this evening...

This is Alone, performed by Gromth featuring Emil Solli Tangen, the unusual blend of what heavy metal fans probably wouldn't call metal with the more subtle tones of Emil Solli Tangen. Emil is following in the footsteps of brother Didrik, who represented Norway on home soil in 2010. Have another listen to Gromth, though. You're right, you have heard that voice somewhere before...

If you're a Eurovision fan keeping an eye out for titbits of info over this year's UK entry, you will have been spoiled rotten this week - whether any of them turn out to be true or not.

We know for a fact that an act has signed up to sing for the UK in Sweden and that the song has been recorded. Scott Mills, the BBC commentator for the semi-finals announced it on his Radio One show last week - and he's hearing the song for himself next week. Somebody, somewhere, knows who it is - surely the tiniest little leaks are dripping through from a loose-lipped source?

Turn the clock back about 72 hours and you will found reports like this all over the web. It was enough to make a British fan believe that the recent participations by Blue and Engelbert Humperdinck had made other acts think 'doing Eurovision' was worth their while, Girls Aloud in a collaboration with will.i.am flying the flag for Blighty? It's absolutely beyond the bounds of possibility, after all, the girls themselves are now a 'we'll pop up once in a while' type band and aren't relying as heavily on the Aloud brand for their fortune so it wouldn't necessarily be career suicide to give it a go. And will.i.am features on so many things without it harming him he could feature on either Midsomer Murders and Celebrity Total Wipeout in the same weekend and still be at number one the following Sunday.

It wasn't to be though as this report, along with many others, will concur. But if the latest round of rumours are to be believed, Girls Aloud will be represented under the union flag in Malmo in May, albeit one fifth of them.

Hello! Fancy a bit of good-natured sport? I thought so. National final season is heating up and if you're internettedly inclined, you'll have been cocking an ear towards the songs from various nations getting a preview or two. So that got me thinking. Despite Boom Bang a Blog hanging around the web for close to five years now it's fair to say that I'm rather pants at picking the winner each year, whether that be at the Contest itself or in aforesaid domestic heats.

This year's going to be different. We're both going to have an opinion. The man in the box above these words is Albin, whose song Beautiful to Me is, in my opinion, the best in a mediocre bunch in the forthcoming Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (it's on January 26). So I've laid my cards on the table, I think he's going to win...

Now that the Boom Bang a Blog Book is safely on the virtual shelf for another year it's high time I turned my attention to the business of next year's Contest. Unusually, a whole handful of songs have been chosen for the 2013 competition before 2013 itself has actually arrived and I'll be taking a look at them here. It has also been announced that 39 countries will be taking part in Malmo in May, not as many as expected. The most high-profile withdrawal comes from Turkey, where there's titty lips about the new mix of jury and televote and the automatic qualification of the Big 5 countries. The poor loves. Anyway, here's what we do have so far.

You and Me performed by Heilsarmee

The Swiss have made a habit of holding their selection before Christmas and their pre-final internet vote saw Eurovision's first ever winner, Lys Assia, ousted from contention with a song which also involved something very modern called 'rap music'. However, we may not have heard the last of that particular number but more of that if/when it happens. The actual representative for Eurovision's first victorious nation is Heilsarmee with You and Me. It took 56 years for the Contest to have a song with that title, when Joan Franka sang it for the Netherlands in Baku but less than 12 months for it to make a reappearance in the hands of Heilsarmee who are off to Malmo in about five months from now.

The last Portuguese Eurovision entry for at least two years

Hello. I planned to launch Malmomentum, a regular spot for all the info on the run-up to next year's competition in Sweden, with a round-up of all the news so far on the organisation and the song selections in the first countries to make announcements. That's still going to happen but it's been overshadowed somewhat by the announcement today that Portugal has withdrawn from Eurovision 2013 due to its ongoing economic problems. Anyone who watches the news and reads the papers won't be all that surprised by this announcement but it's still a bit of a shame. I can't pretend that Portuguese entries have ever featured heavily among my favourites in the 20 years I've been a fan (I quite liked their 1994 entry and I've always been fond of Alma Lusa from 1998) but this means one of the worst Eurovision statistics of all - that Portugal has been entering since 1964 and has yet to finish in the top five continues to 2014. That's 50 years since their debut and not many Top 10 notches on the RTP trophy cabinet to show for it. In the great scheme of things it is, of course, understandable why it's happened and I hope Portugal come back stronger in 2014.