This year's contest may be as open as Peter Andre's shirt, but Eurovision 2005 is already a done deal, a shoe-in, a fait accompli. Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you next year's winners one year early....
 Mandela hail from the Bavarian town of Hofmeister on the banks of the river Schneiderweisse. Fronted by veteran German rock musician Hansi X (third from right), Mandela play a unique brand of Eco-Rock that dares to tackle the difficult issues head on whilst never straying far from the melodic simplicity that is at the core of their music. Formed in 1996 from the wreckage of two huge German acts - Guten Tag, Rudi Voller and The Gunther Haas Experience - Mandela's manifesto is stoutly unpretentious. In the words of Hansi X: "Mandela is about the music, about the power of music to make you think a little different about yourself, your life, your world. "Mandela is about changing the way we treat our world for our generation and the generations yet to come. We use electricity to power our instruments, yes, but we are careful to only use electricity collected locally from sustainable sources such as wind and bicycles. "It is our commitment to the world, our world in music." Despite selling out the prestigious Lowenbrau Fest Eco-Tent for the past three years, the step up to Eurovision level has not been without incident. Theramin player and former defensive tackle for the Frankfurt Galaxy American football team Claus Stompfer announced recently that he is now called Carmel, following a 'tentatively successful' gender re-assignment. She is expected to be unveiled as the Berlin Thunder's new defensive co-ordinator within the next two weeks. Fellow band members Laughing Boy and the moodily enigmatic Gaia Sprinkelmaus, the 'engine room' of both Mandela and The Gunther Haas Experience, are expected to re-marry for the sixth time in as many months just hours before this year's contest. Said Hansi: "Mandela is about life in all its beauty and in all its harshness. "We are the birds in the trees, the coral in the reef, the water in the puddle at the corner of your street where the laughing kids play, jumping over you and sometimes splashing through you before they grow up and grow tired of their childish days and their childish ways and drive their cars to their jobs and buy their central heating from reputable dealers with a shop in the High Street. "We are serious but we are fun. We are four but we are one. We are Mandela." Mandela's winning entry for next year is entitled Love Is A Beacon (Shine your light of peace on our planet of hope for the children of the world at the end of the rainbow of life). We are honoured to be able to reprint the lyrics in full: Up in space,
There is a place,
Where love can grow,
Like the waters flow,
From the mountains of hope,
To the valley down below ooh yeah And we've stoked that fire,
With love and desire,
To bring hope and peace,
To our planet on its knees,
And love to the children,
Is what they require ooh yeah Ooh love is a beacon
Shine it here, shine it there,
Shine it everywhere, ooh yeah
Yes, love is a beacon
And it's shining out for you The track will wend,
To the rainbow's end,
To a pot of gold,
For the young, for the old,
Full of hope and love,
For the meek and the bold ooh yeah So love is a beacon
Shine it here, shine it there,
Shine it everywhere, ooh yeah
Yes, love is a beacon
And it's shining out for you And fire can heat (no retreat)
And fire can burn (no return)
But love and hope and children fan the flames of peace (yes please)
Palestinian, Argentinian, Afghanstinian ooh yeah Ooh love is a beacon
Shine it here, shine it there,
Shine it everywhere, ooh yeah
Yes, love is a beacon
And it's shining out for you Yeah love is a beacon
Shine it here, shine it there,
Shine it everywhere, ooh yeah
Yes, love is a beacon
And it's shining out for you And it's shining out for you... Mandela - remember the name. | 
