Hit and miss Goths, glory and plenty of gimmicks

It was the most politically charged Eurovision song contest in memory-but it was won by a famously neutral nation. As the glittery dust settles from Saturday night in Malmö, Sweden, here's what we learned

- Michael Hogan

1. Switzerland was a smash hit

After a week of turmoil, we got a popular winner. Swiss singer Nemo, who identifies as non-binary, came into the night as third favourite but romped to a widely welcomed victory. Their poperatic, drum'n'bass-driven song The Code wasn't just naggingly catchy but imaginatively staged, with the 24-year-old hitting high notes while balancing on a giant spinning turntable. The committed performance was impossible to resist.

Just a shame about the awkward ending. Not only was Nemo's interminable walk from the green room to the stage like something from This is Spinal Tap, but they smashed the glass trophy during their triumphant celebrations.

2. Europe still doesn't love the UK

It started so well for Olly Alexander. The UK entrant's performance of Dizzy went down well enough in the arena. When jury votes were counted, he'd made it on to the fabled "left-hand side of the leaderboard". Then the wheels came off. He received the dreaded "nul points" in the public vote. Alexander plummeted to 18th out of 25 with just 46 points - a fraction of the top scores, which were in the 500s.

So what went wrong? Some blamed the song a derivative Pet Shop Boys-esque number. Others pointed to sound issues, with vocals muddy and low in the mix. Others thought the staging, with writhing dancers in what resembled a serial killer's bathroom, was more suited to an edgy video than Eurovision. Others pointed to the UK's unpopularity post-Brexit. It was likely a combo of all the above. At least he improved on last year, when Mae Muller was second from bottom.