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Ridiculous things governments have wasted money on

What a waste
Australia: Yoga classes for MPs – $8,300 (£6.2k)
Canada: Surveys on Canadian views of the Senate – $11,400 (£8.8k)
Canada: Flying a Canadian chef to India for the Prime Minister – $12,900 (£9.9k)
UK: A hologram for London Brent Council’s HQ – $16,000 (£12k)
US: Synchronised swimming for sea monkeys – $50,000 (£37.5k)
Canada: Signal Hill Fence – $50,000 (£37.4k)
Canada: Giant rubber duck – $92,000 (£69k)
Canada: Putting gold into a creek – $106,000 (£81.6k)
Sweden: A replica of a Swedish town inside Second Life – $118,000 (£75k)
Canada: Red Couch Tour – $119,000 (£89k)
US: A study into the gambling habits of monkeys – $171,000 (£128k)
Japan: A squid statue – $230,000 (£165k)
US: Studying how many times ‘hangry’ people stab a voodoo doll – $331,000 (£249k)
US: Swedish massages for rabbits – $387,000 (£291k)
US: Gas emissions from dairy cows – $700,000 (£623k)
US: Teaching mountain lions to run on a treadmill? – $856,000 (£641k)
Hong Kong: Buildings' feng shui – at least $1.3 million (£968k)
Italy: A lift that goes nowhere – $2.4 million (£1.8m)
US: Jazz-playing robots – $2 million (£1.5m)
US: Hamster fights – $3 million (£2.3m)
UK: Scrapped press briefing room – $3.62 million (£2.6m)
The EU: A blogging donkey – $9.5 million (£7.1m)
Australia: Foxtel subscriptions – $22 million (£16.5m)
Venezuela: A film that never went into production – $22.4 million (£16.8m)
US: Camouflage that stuck out – $28 million (£21.5m)
UK: 50 million face masks that went unused – $329 million (£252m)
Italy: A Mafia motorway – $434 million (£339m)
Japan: A ring road that’s barely used – $2 billion (£1.5bn)
US: Farm subsidies – $2.4 billion (£1.8bn)
UK: Health service IT system – $13.3 billion (£10bn)
Dubai: The World – $14 billion (£10.5bn)
US: Mexico-US border wall – $15 billion (£10.8bn)
US: The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter – $1.5 trillion (£1.1tn)
5 of 34
Brent Council

UK: A hologram for London Brent Council’s HQ – $16,000 (£12k)

In the UK, London’s Brent Council spent £12,000 ($16k) on a hologram at its HQ, simply to direct people in the right direction. In an article for the Guardian, Brent Council member James Denselow hit back at negative press coverage, saying the hologram was "a great example of how technology and innovation can save money", as the hologram cost was far lower than the cost of hiring a human receptionist.

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lovemoney staff

07 May 2021

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