The Eurovision experience begins within minutes of touching down at Vienna International Airport. I pause my headphones just in time to hear the pilot acknowledge the competition in German – cheers from ecstatic gaggles of pals come from the front of the plane.
As the aphorism attributed to Austrian satirist Karl Kraus goes, “The streets of Vienna are paved with culture, the streets of other cities with asphalt”. What would Beethoven think of Romania’s 2026 entry, Choke Me, I wonder,…

