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| Watching Ed Balls on Strictly was the uncomplicated joy we all needed Watching Ed Balls on Strictly was the uncomplicated joy we all needed | |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Will we see Ed Balls’ ooh-er-missus face ever again? The pout he perfected over the weeks on Strictly Come Dancing cannot go to waste. Can he do it on Newsnight after an analysis of deficit reduction? Can he run his fingers over himself on Marr? I worry about these things because ever since Balls revealed this side of himself, the world had been a better and much sillier place. Silliness has been in short supply this year, though boastful ignorance is everywhere. | Will we see Ed Balls’ ooh-er-missus face ever again? The pout he perfected over the weeks on Strictly Come Dancing cannot go to waste. Can he do it on Newsnight after an analysis of deficit reduction? Can he run his fingers over himself on Marr? I worry about these things because ever since Balls revealed this side of himself, the world had been a better and much sillier place. Silliness has been in short supply this year, though boastful ignorance is everywhere. |
| Ed cavorted and preened and stomped his little legs on Strictly in his supremely ridiculous routines and by doing so reinvigorated both himself and us grouchy viewers. For those unmoved by politics or politicians because “they are all the same”, Balls showed there was no one quite like him. It’s hard to imagine an equivalent figure bringing such unhinged abandon to light entertainment. Michael Portillo, remember, showed his hinterland with a series of sedate train journeys. | Ed cavorted and preened and stomped his little legs on Strictly in his supremely ridiculous routines and by doing so reinvigorated both himself and us grouchy viewers. For those unmoved by politics or politicians because “they are all the same”, Balls showed there was no one quite like him. It’s hard to imagine an equivalent figure bringing such unhinged abandon to light entertainment. Michael Portillo, remember, showed his hinterland with a series of sedate train journeys. |
| Balls’ evident ability to listen, learn and want to please was utterly endearing. And learn he did, to dance and to entertain. He gave himself up and went with the flow. From swotty bruiser to hesitant metrosexual in a few short weeks, his “journey” was a thing of uncomplicated joy. Maybe it wasn’t such a big journey. He told Grazia that he always knew he had this “strong inner camp. I’ve just never quite revealed it in this way.” And the reveal was glorious, peaking with Gangnam Style madness. That moment, rather than him losing his seat in Morley and Outwood or him banging on about endogenous growth theory, or him sitting opposite George Osborne in the house, looking as though he was going to get up and nut him up at any second, is what is now lodged in the public mind. | Balls’ evident ability to listen, learn and want to please was utterly endearing. And learn he did, to dance and to entertain. He gave himself up and went with the flow. From swotty bruiser to hesitant metrosexual in a few short weeks, his “journey” was a thing of uncomplicated joy. Maybe it wasn’t such a big journey. He told Grazia that he always knew he had this “strong inner camp. I’ve just never quite revealed it in this way.” And the reveal was glorious, peaking with Gangnam Style madness. That moment, rather than him losing his seat in Morley and Outwood or him banging on about endogenous growth theory, or him sitting opposite George Osborne in the house, looking as though he was going to get up and nut him up at any second, is what is now lodged in the public mind. |
| His image as a tribal enforcer did not come from nowhere. He was at times as difficult, as paranoid, as aggressive, as intimidating in the macho New Labour way as his boss. He and his wife Yvette Cooper seemed simply a driven and power–crazed couple. It’s been brilliant to see the horror on her face slipping into laughter as he performs – she has also been humanised. But I always thought Balls would do well as he is so many women’s secret crush. He just looks so “goatish”, a friend sighed to me many years ago. | His image as a tribal enforcer did not come from nowhere. He was at times as difficult, as paranoid, as aggressive, as intimidating in the macho New Labour way as his boss. He and his wife Yvette Cooper seemed simply a driven and power–crazed couple. It’s been brilliant to see the horror on her face slipping into laughter as he performs – she has also been humanised. But I always thought Balls would do well as he is so many women’s secret crush. He just looks so “goatish”, a friend sighed to me many years ago. |
| He was a big success on the Great Sport Relief Bake Off when he made a cake with a ski slope. At a local literary festival he enthralled the audience by reading Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea. The more he flashed his hinterland, the more people liked it. | He was a big success on the Great Sport Relief Bake Off when he made a cake with a ski slope. At a local literary festival he enthralled the audience by reading Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea. The more he flashed his hinterland, the more people liked it. |
| So Strictly, that oddly regressive and repressive show, made sense. This long-time critic of austerity, the architect of many key policies (independence for the Bank of England, to give one example) began strutting his stuff with abandon. Strictly does neutered high camp in the guise of family entertainment, and Balls went with it. Jerking and thrusting and “lifting” and skipping and making people remember why they love to dance. | So Strictly, that oddly regressive and repressive show, made sense. This long-time critic of austerity, the architect of many key policies (independence for the Bank of England, to give one example) began strutting his stuff with abandon. Strictly does neutered high camp in the guise of family entertainment, and Balls went with it. Jerking and thrusting and “lifting” and skipping and making people remember why they love to dance. |
| He laid down his inhibitions for the sake of sublime silliness. And for us. The nation responded with an affection that most politicians can only dream of. This has nothing to do with the current state of Labour, which is so lacking in va-va-voom. Instead, in a year when some dreadful men have risen to the top by taking themselves incredibly seriously, Balls showed the power of being able to let it all go. Utter delight. | He laid down his inhibitions for the sake of sublime silliness. And for us. The nation responded with an affection that most politicians can only dream of. This has nothing to do with the current state of Labour, which is so lacking in va-va-voom. Instead, in a year when some dreadful men have risen to the top by taking themselves incredibly seriously, Balls showed the power of being able to let it all go. Utter delight. |