Pakistanis reacted with similar scorn when their capital was moved from the historic city of Karachi to characterless Islamabad.

ECONOMIST: Welcome to the tomb��er, the capital

In the past few years, much of what remained to make China's capital an extraordinary city has been systematically destroyed in favour of characterless boulevards and brutalist, bathroom-tile-clad architecture, all choked by a cloud of traffic pollution.

ECONOMIST: China��s Communist modernisers are wrecking the capital

From the terrible staging (all the poor contestants looked completely lost on that huge, characterless stage) and the ridiculous drivel spoken by the poor hosts (who should have ditched their dialogue and ad-libbed) to the bizarre, neighbourly voting.

BBC: Eurovision Song Contest: Your views