Of course, things were different then.
In particular, THE POWERS THAT BE ACTUALLY WANTED THE UK TO WIN.
Which is why they entered a top flight artist with a proven track record that year. Say what you like about our most Christian popster, at the time of Eurovision '68 he had been a perennial feature in the UK singles charts for the past ten years, with 8 No.1s, 27 top tens, and 48 entries in total.
These days, we, the Public, are asked to share complicity by choosing our entry from a slate of total unknowns spouting forgettable dribble. Of course we could do better than this. Unlike all our other industries, the music industry is still running and still a world contender. Stock, Aitken and Waterman et al might be guilty of some horrible crimes against music, but those crimes were meticulously planned and executed with panache, garnering vast profits. If our major pop players set their sights on Eurovision, even the Balkan states would have their work cut out for them.
But they aren't, and why? My guess is that the people responsible for Eurovision entries, and also responsible for staging the contest if we win, have decided that the game isn't worth the candle. Winning Eurovision may give the country a brief, warm feeling, but this doesn't translate into anything that would help cover the considerable cost of hosting Eurovision the following year. Remember Ireland's three-year run of Eurovision wins? It drove their state broadcaster close to bankruptcy.
If Eurovision were a normal project funded by a government grant, not a year would have gone by without someone wanting to cut it, and reallocate the funds.
Politically, our participation in Eurovision is a much easier victim than any grant funded entity. All that need happen is that we enter no-hopers each year and fail to win. No public decision need be taken, nobody has to wield the knife, few if any observers will guess what had happened, and it will be impossible to pin the blame on anyone.
So there you have it, another conspiracy theory to join the Register's growing herd.
By the way, I'm not opposed to any of the putative activities described above. I just want them to come clean, stop televising Eurovision and consign "Song for Europe" to the dustbin of history.