Some of us were thinking it, but only good old Terry Wogan came right out and said it. The United Kingdom's "nil points" in the Eurovision, the Limerick man suggested, was a backlash against Tony Blair and George Bush's campaign in Iraq.
Did Jacques Chirac and the his German and Russian buddies jam the phone lines with thousands of televotes for everybody but the UK in revenge for Blair's action? We'll never know.
Whatever the reason, the result has gone down in UK Eurovision history as the first ever no-show on the points board.
If there's one thing Irish people value almost as much as winning something, it's beating the English. So this particular Eurovision drubbing may have been greeted with, let's say, mixed feelings around Ireland last night.
Turkey won the contest with the thing that sounded like Graham Norton's theme music - Every Way That I Can- an explosion of rhythm and belly dancing.
Our own Mickey Joe Harte came in respectable 11th in a competition of 26 countries, with no small thanks to the British public who gave us the coveted "douze points".
Belgium came a close second with the folk-inspired Sanomiby Urban Trad, while Russia's controversial lesbian pop duo t.A.T.u. took third spot. The show took place in the Latvian capital Riga.
