Ed Balls Blog

After four months of blood, sweat, tears and fleckerls, Ore Oduba walked away the winner of the Strictly Come Dancing glitterball. On a night when any one of the finalists could have taken the trophy, the sports commentator and rookie dancer kept his nerve and, with his dance partner Joanne Clifton, produced three stunning routines, dropping […]

The combination of losing weight and gaining popularity doesn’t half put a spring in the step. Ed Balls says the surprising thing about his post-Strictly world is how filled with smiles it is. In the old days he used to walk down the street and gain recognition – but often for all the wrong reasons. […]

You can download the Essential Classics podcast here.

Click the links below to book your tickets for: The Apex on 11 May / Greenwich Theatre on 15 May / Cheltenham Everyman on 23 May ‘An engaging, highly readable and on occasion moving portrayal of life in the Westminster madhouse.’ i POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Unusually expansive… timely.’ Guardian BOOKS OF THE YEAR […]

I’ve hosted a gathering with a twist. All my guests are from beyond the grave, longtime heroes brought back to life by the wonders of the radio archive. I am joined by former chancellor Denis Healey, comedy legend Les Dawson, feminist pioneer Nancy Astor, Hollywood great Danny Kaye and others, for half an hour of mesmerising and […]

On 27th March, the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government welcomed Ed Balls, visiting fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, and UK Shadow Chancellor from 2011 to 2015; Prof. Lawrence Summers President Emeritus and University Professor, Harvard University, and Former US Treasury Secretary; Alberto Alesina, Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy […]

This afternoon I’m flying out to Harvard for the final research meeting of my two- year fellowship there. It’s feels very odd to be leaving Britain at the beginning of the General Election – the first one I won’t be actively involved in since 1992. Lots of people have asked me whether I would seek […]

I had a great time on Loose Women today chatting about life since Strictly and the release of the paperback of my memoir ‘Speaking Out’, which includes a NEW chapter containing all the juicy details of my Strictly experience! Get your copy here!

On 2nd May, the Strand Group and hosted a half-day conference at King’s College London, featuring discussions led by Visiting Professor Ed Balls, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the New Labour government’s decision to give the Bank of England operational independence in 1997, to reflect on the Bank’s role over the last twenty years, […]

Brexit implies profound changes for British businesses: from how they trade, to how they are regulated and how they employ people. To explore the challenges and opportunities we interviewed over 50 mid-sized British businesses and trade associations, with the objective of identifying the key execution priorities for Brexit from their perspective. The paper sets out […]

It’s not the crowds or the noise or the buzz but the smells that hit your senses with an unexpected intensity. The tangy, mulchy pong of wood chips scattered liberally across motorway-wide pedestrian thoroughfares. The acid stench of urine rising up from the “long-drop” mass open toilet blocks. The strong and spicy scent of vegetable […]

Click here to listen to my Guardian podcast with former Treasurer of Australia, Wayne Swan: My interview on ABC News… Our GFC+10 event at Melbourne Town Hall: And a shot from my speech at […]

Thank you very much indeed for inviting me today – what a great honour it is to speak to this National Press Club. In the drinks reception beforehand, it was very humbling to see the pictures on the walls of the very distinguished Australian, and also international, speakers that you’ve had here in this club […]

It’s hard to believe that it has already been 20 years since the incoming Labour government made the Bank of England independent. Back in May, our Strand Group team at Kings’s organised an anniversary seminar to discuss why it happened and how it worked in practice. You can watch it here. A few months on, […]

Check out my conversation with BBC’s Simon McCoy on Afternoon Live today… Fascinating chat with @edballs on #AfternoonLive talking Stammering Awareness Day, Brexit and Strictly! pic.twitter.com/Ffj0788FPA — Simon McCoy (@BBCSimonMcCoy) October 19, 2017

Hate crime in Britain is rising, with figures published last week revealing it has increased by 29 per cent over the past year. This is the largest increase since records began. Let’s stop and consider what that means: that growing numbers of people in modern Britain are experiencing hatred simply because of who they are […]

[This response draws extensively on the M-RCG Working Paper I have written with Anna Stansbury and James Howat ‘Central Bank Independence Revisited: After the financial crisis, what should a model central bank look like?’. Grateful thanks to Anna and Eleanor Hallam for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this response and to Sir Richard […]

Detailed Harvard survey of Small and Medium-Sized UK businesses reveals the following: The overwhelming majority who expressed an opinion want to stay in the Customs Union, believing that the potential gains from Britain negotiating its own trade deals elsewhere in the world cannot offset the substantial disadvantages of leaving the Customs Union; The large majority […]

Anna Stansbury and I presented our updated M-RCBG working paper, “Central Bank Independence Revisited: After the financial crisis, what should a model central bank look like?” on April 23, 2018, at the Peterson Institute. The paper examines whether the empirical case for central bank independence has collapsed, whether the new powers central banks have accumulated put independence […]

Peter Sands, Mehek Sethi and I launched the third in our series of Harvard Working Papers exploring the impact of Brexit on British businesses at a Strand Group event at King’s College London last night. The paper, ‘On the Rebound: Prospects for a US-UK FTA’, examines the prospects for, and potential impact of, a free trade […]

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