WHEREAS I don’t normally like to get into a "table tennis match" over letters backwards and forwards, I would like to say to Ms Reeve that the major point I wanted to make was the total cost of staging the Eurovision farce.

Copenhagen 2014 (must get the dates right) had a budget six months before the start of 35 million kroner.

The total cost was 335 million kroner, which was 44.8 million euros. Complete madness.

In 2011 Azerbaijan spent 60 million euros on staging the farce.

I would imagine that cost nearly bankrupted the country – but then again foreign aid springs to mind.

At about midday on Sunday, I ventured out for a glass or two of ale and went into two local establishments in the Moredon area.

In the first one there was 14 people within an age range from 20 to a gentleman of 85.

I asked each and everyone if, over the past 15 years, any of them had ever watched the Eurovision Song Contest and only one lady quite openly said she only watched the results for a laugh.

I got exactly the same response from the second establishment. So that tells me you are in a minority.

It’s a total waste of licence-payers money but then again I will not be losing any sleep over the United Kingdom winning and us staging it for millions of pounds, not euros.

Put it this way, I will donate £1 for every point the UK gets over 50 to a charity of your choice.

JOHN L CROOK Haydon Wick Swindon