I promised a report from Saturday's 'Meet The Neighbours' day at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, so here it is. My new friend Joe sent this to the Eurovision General Yahoo! list, to which we both belong. I thought it deserved a wider airing, so, with Joe's permission, here goes [with a few added comments from Chig]:
"To the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on Saturday for 'Meet The Neighbours' day, a celebration of 10 new countries joining the European Union. By the time I got in through the stringent security checks, I had missed the Hungarian folk dancers. (I'll never forgive myself.) James Fox took to the outdoor stage at 12.30pm, in the now traditional jacket and jeans. He sang 6 songs and whilst he said the right things ("We're going to Istanbul, and we're going to win!") it was hardly an electrifying performance in my opinion. One funny moment came when he announced he was going to play "another slow song I've written, I'm afraid"...and then played the opening bars to TV darts quiz Bullseye! I thought it was hilarious, but the joke was lost on the foreigners in the audience. Anyway, the more I hear 'Hold On To Our Love', the more I think it won't come last, but it just doesn't have what Simon Cowell would call 'The X Factor'. As we walked in, we were all given a Treasure Hunt-style quiz, where all the answers were dotted around the exhibits. Each of the 10 new EU entrants had their own stand, of which, in my opinion...'Best Cheesy Biscuits' - Malta, 'Best Salami' - Lithuania, 'Best Felt Tip Pen' - Czech Republic. (Obviously Malta and Lithuania had a lot of people hovering around their stands! Had trouble eating a felt tip pen.) Then upstairs to the free wine and beer tasting (woo-hoo!) from the likes of Cyprus and Estonia. Finished at 2.05pm, to see Julia & Ludwig [Malta's Eurovision entrants this year - Chig] being introduced 5 minutes earlier than scheduled, "Hope you'll be able to see us on BBC Three". [Malta are in the Wednesday semi-final, which BBC Three is showing.] This was unfortunate, because the floor gymnasts hadn't finished near the stage, so there was a burst of applause halfway through 'On Again...Off Again'. I liked this song for the first two minutes, but then it went a bit mad with Julia going off-on-one opera-style. They too sang 6 songs, including the Maltese official song in celebration of European entry, [Oh deep joy! Does each of the 10 new countries have one of these? The EU should release a compilation album.] and 'Beauty & The Beast'. [I'm saying nothing.] In my opinion, they were miming throughout. To finish, Julia announced, "We're now going to do a dance version of our Eurovision song, which we hear is going down very well in the clubs".[In Valetta, presumably.] Julia & Ludwig then climbed down off the raised stage, inviting the whole crowd to stand up and dance alongside them. They were joined by their own dancers, both of whom can best be described as wearing Bob Monkhouse-style wigs (a British comic, recently passed away). The song was turned on its head, the opera part coming FIRST, and then moving onto the main body of 'On Again...Off Again'. During these 3 minutes, with by now 20 members of the audience at their side, I felt I might be watching this year's winners, except I don't know if Julia can hit the high notes live on the big night. They had a great 'stage presence', smiling throughout, and lots of people seemed to know the words. At the end, they were roared triumphantly off stage. With that, I couldn't resist some more beer tasting...or two....or three... Regards-Joe."

Thanks Joe. I caught a glimpse of James Fox talking on Newsnight last night, which I presumed was filmed at this event. The publicity wheel is turning ever faster, as he's now featured and interviewed in the May issues of attitude and Gay Times too.
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