Mr Calder, I see your Julian Swift-Hook and I raise you Association of Chief Police Officers spokesman Alf Hitchcock. Commenting on knife crime.

It’s that time again: tonight is the final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.

I missed both semi-finals and haven’t had time to listen to the contenders, so I’ll be watching tonight (at the local LibDems’ annual Eurovision party) with an open mind.

One of my two predictions for the contest has already come true: Ireland’s abysmal entry by Dustin the Turkey was knocked out in its semi-final. My other prediction is to disagree with the BBC’s tiny and unrepresentative Eurovision panel that Sweden will win. Although Charlotte Perrelli has won before, her entry this year, Hero is – based on the short clip I’ve heard – nowhere near as good as her 1999 winner Take Me to Your Heaven.

In lieu of my usual reviews, you can get a rundown of tonight’s songs from Liberal Revolution, and a quick guide from Mike.

I’ll probably live Twitter the show. You can find what will no doubt be pearls of wisdom (“What *is* she wearing?!” will be par for the course) at twitter.com/willhowells or by texting follow willhowells to 07624 801423.

There was good news this morning when the High Court ruled that the Serious Fraud Office’s decision – under pressure from the Government – to drop its investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia was “unlawful”.

The BBC quotes BAE’s position on the ruling:

“The case was between two campaign groups and the director of the SFO. It concerned the legality of a decision made by the director of the SFO.

“BAE Systems played no part in that decision.”

The same article mentions BAE’s earlier position on the inquiry:

BAE argued that the SFO probe could “jeopardise” both this deal and “seriously affect” relations with the Saudi kingdom.

So they argued that the probe was a bad idea, but “played no part” in the decision to end it.

If I blog that the Government should do something and then they do it, I may or may not have played a part in that decision. If I were to write to the Government and ask they do something and then they do it, I may or may not have played a part in that decision – it certainly increases the likelihood that I have.

Now, given BAE’s closeness to Government, did no-one from BAE ever moan about this probe? It’s possible. But if they did, did they still “play no part” in the decision to drop the inquiry?

They may or may not have done.

Compare and contrast these video clips:

If that’s got you in the mood, you can watch the full “campfire” trailer here, the cinematic trailer here, and a preview clip from the first episode of the new series of <DOCTOR.WHO>, Partners in Crime, here.

The fourth series begins on Saturday at the earlier time of 6.20pm.