xpanding the total field to 36 entrants, 24 of which would contest the final, and making new countries, those that are not massive Eurovision funders or those that performed woefully last time around have to go through an additional qualifying round, seems like a good idea. It should, at least, in theory have made the actual final a higher-quality affair and pre-sift out some of the chaff.

But, as you'd have seen in the last column, the average quality this year doesn't seem to be very high. Are the next 11 any better? Read on to find out, along with my predictions for the 10 acts out of that will get to strut their stuff on the main stage in Istanbul:

LITHUANIA - Linas & Simona - What Happened To Our Love?

Basically, below-par cocktail party Latino number as sung by a pair who probably moonlight in the cheapest casino on earth. Oh and it has scratching noises. Melisma in the chorus is really annoying me for some reason.

ALBANIA - Anjeza Shahini - The

It's a ballad! No! Wait, it's not! An absolute belter of a pop song - could have been an S Club 8 single - that bass! Considerably more powerful as sung live than on the Eurovision CD which bodes well for it come competition night. The difference is down to the comedy guitar solo which is disappoingly subdued in the studio version, but was raucously cheese-tastic in the Albanian qualifying. The English translators have done a good job on this one, too. On merit, this would win the qualifying final hands down, but probably won't and if it doesn't make the finals I will be very, very cross.

CYPRUS - Lisa Andreas - Stronger Every Minute

Washy ballad, albeit well song and with a nice arrangement, vaguely reminiscent of Madonna's Borderline in the verses, and with a sparse guitar in the chorus. Will do quite well because those recoiling from the disco cheese of Albania will view this favourably, and of course it can count on the Greek vote.

FYR Macedonia - Tose Proeski - Life

Sonically, this is great - juddering echoey beats, big sampled orchestral stabs and demented strings (that sound as if they were traded from Turkey) all over the place, and a bizarrely endearing off-kilter melody. Less than the sum of its parts, but this is at least pleasant, and a welcome pick-up after the sleep-inducing Cypriot one.

SLOVENIA - Platin - Stay Forever

Extremely chirpy song that sounds straight out of the 1990s, where producers had a singer that needed a song and they had absolutely no budget. Cheap in sound and sentiment, but not too bad as far as these things go - your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance of bargain-basement pop of a decade ago.

ESTONIA - Neikösö - Tii

Estonia have done well lately with six top 10 finishes in the nine years. They won in 2001, admittedly with a song that wasn't great. In 2002, they could easily have won again with the lovely Runaway (sung by a Swede at that), and in 2003 they surprised with the Steely Dan meets Ben Folds Five of Ruffus' Eighties Coming Back. And this - well it's dire to be honest. Even a flute at the end can't save this incredibly dull bit of world-inspired pap. God, it's rubbish.

CROATIA - Ivan Mikulic - You Are The Only One

Yet another ballad, undercooked in construction seeking to make up for this by being overwrought in delivery. No more, please. Bring back Croatian approximations of Swedish hit factories, because that stuff is really, really good, despite the ignorance of last year's voters who failed to recognise the magnificence of Claudia.

DENMARK - Tomas Thordarson - Shame On You

Just because Latvia won in 2002 with a Latin-flavoured number doesn't make it a good idea. That won because it was a mind-infesting bit of genius with an amazing bit of choreography. This has good lalalas, and is at least better than the REAL Spanish entry, but... enough already. When will people look to Belgium for inspiration (unless it's nonsense-singing Salome twits, obviously) rather than sodding Spain?

SERBIA & MONTENEGRO - Zeljko Joksimovic & Ad Hoc Orchestra - Lane Moje

The orchestral sounds are fabulous, but this is Eurovision, not the soundtrack of a mid 90s adventure movie taking place in somewhere dark and snowy. Will score the votes of all the people who still think "My Heart Will Go On" is a good song that were using the bathroom when Malta were on.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - Deen - In The Disco

Sounds rather like "I Feel Love". Underwater. And backwards. Which is no bad thing, because if you're going to rip something off, titling your song "In The Disco" and copping one of the greatest singles of the disco era, you've at least chosen well. As opposed to all these countries who are taking inspiration from the Third Single Off Some Boyband's Album. Its only downfall may be that it's not a love song, because songs not about love don't tend to do that well.

THE NETHERLANDS - Re-Union - Without You

Better than James Fox, at the very least. Well-placed backing vocals, although makes me think of All-4-One. Or one of those vocal groups that weren't proper boy bands back in the mid-90s. And then, rather tragically, merged with a dullard with an acoustic. It's got a nice tune, you could whistle it, and I envision that's probably the main criterion that some people use, so it's got a good shot. A bit sappy, though.

THE TOP TEN ON MERIT:

1. Albania
2. Bosnia-Herzegovina
3. Finland
4. Belarus
5. Malta
6. Ukraine
7. Andorra
8. FYR Macedonia
9. Slovenia
10.Denmark

WHAT WILL PROBABLY HAPPEN:

1. Ukraine
2. Greece
3. Malta
4. The Netherlands
5. Cyprus
6. Bosnia-Herzegovina
7. Finland
8. Serbia & Montenegro
9. Israel
10.Albania