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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)
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US: Synchronised swimming for sea monkeys – $50,000 (£37.5k)

America's National Science Foundation spent over $50,000 (£37.5k) to study the effects of sea monkeys’ swimming patterns on water movements. However, scientist John Dabiri said that the research showed the role that these animals play in mixing up layers of ocean minerals, arguing that these conclusions might have wider implications on understanding how animals get key nutrients. 

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lovemoney staff

07 May 2021

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