Meenzer

My absolute favourite song when I was 6 years old. Well, that and Midge Ure's "If I Was".

The semi-final exit at Euro 2012 was certainly seen as a disappointment, although whether they'd have been any better positioned than Italy to deal with Spain in the final is a matter of contention. Löw's current contract runs until 2014 and if Germany aren't (at least) the best-performing European team in Brazil next year then I'd be surprised if it gets renewed. But yes, on the whole there's a feeling that it's time for the current crop to prove themselves - it's getting on for two decades since they won a major tournament, after all (the poor dears).

Only marginally less bad than Andy Cole's "Outstanding".

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Ant. Hant.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2013/feb/06/gay-marriage-vote-map-mp

Azerbaijan 2nd, Russia 5th. Neither close enough to the winner to make a difference, thankfully!

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs is involved now. Remarkable... Mind you, this kind of thing has happened (and been retrospectively corrected) before. For example, in the 2004 semi-final Croatia awarded itself four points. Nobody noticed until afterwards.

Marginally. Just marginally.

FFS.

My favourite street in Copenhagen.

Seeya soon.

Urgh, absolutely rotten. Immune system is rebelling after two weeks of late-night carousing. Fortunately it's a holiday in Germany so the boss won't be checking up on me any time soon. G'night.

Also, watch out for the first one up, France. She's... feisty.

She is. I'm well on the way.

Aargh, no idea. Denmark is the odds-on favourite by some distance and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they won, but there's probably no point in going there betting-wise. Greece and Italy as each-ways and Iceland to finish top 10, maybe...? (If you really care, I wrote this earlier to justify my press badge and all, but beware - severe nerdiness lies within: http://escnation-liv...eres-value.html)

Aye, same here more or less. Only the second game I've ever left early - the first was a 3-0 home defeat to Charlton in the late 80s when things were starting to kick off around us so my old man took us home.

Tonight at 8pm on BBC THREE, you will meet... another ice queen: ...a little girl lost: ...a wannabe Italo-diva: ...a hard-working percussionist: ...a vampish librarian: ...and a high-maintenance Fennoswede who might just be worth it: Do enjoy.

Seems reasonable.

Tonight at 8pm on BBC THREE, you will meet... the ice queens: ...the Balkan puppies: ...the MILFs: ...the Eastern Europeans who would eat you for breakfast: ...and the random American who's somehow ended up living in Slovenia: (Most of their songs aren't very good. Sorry about that.)