TAXPAYERS are funding a university study of TikTok dance videos in the latest government waste outrage.
More than £8billion of public cash was set aside for research.
InstagramCoventry University spent £199,922 on a study into how Covid lockdowns changed online dance, focusing on TikTok and new digital format[/caption]
ReutersThe University of Exeter received £247,132 for a project on ‘Queer Natures’, exploring animals and homosexuality[/caption]
But millions have been splurged on woke projects looking at “queer animals” and pro-trans robots.
We told yesterday how £15billion in public cash went on foreign aid projects such as shrimp farms in Bangladesh and electric Porsches for Albanian jails.
The revelations follow pressure to raise defence spending and cut NHS waits, and has led to calls for a US-style efficiency department like Elon Musk’s.
Another £8billion a year is earmarked for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grants — but The Sun can reveal millions was frittered on woke projects.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance blasted: “Brits know government waste is rampant — but this takes the cake.”
Projects included £199,922 for the Coventry University study into “Ontology and Ownership of Internet Dance”.
It states Covid lockdowns “resulted in new forms of dance, which have raised questions about how online dances are understood, described and exchanged”.
It claims to produce expertise on dance that “occurs online more than ever before, in new and experimental formats” including TikTok.
Questions it seeks to answer include:
WHAT kind of thing is an online dance?
IS dance online a different thing to dance offline?
DO the aesthetic and cultural histories of dance forms mean each produces a different kind of thing or are all online dances one kind of entity?
HOW does dance’s ontology shape social practices around ownership online?
HOW can ontological understanding support artists when sharing work online?
Last month dancers and students were offered a £150 bursary from the project to attend and perform at a symposium on campus.
Videos shared publicly online show the man’s hip-hop routine to cheers from students. Coventry University declined to comment.
Other grants included £1.1million for the University of Sheffield to probe “Intersectional Inclusion”.
Another £1.1million went to Royal Holloway, University of London, to study “Inclusive Histories”.
The University of Exeter was awarded £247,132 for a project on “Queer Natures: Animals, Environment and Modern Sexual Knowledge Production” including attitudes in pre-1930s Germany.
UKRI also funds private-sector research. Software firm Clusivity received £214,330 into using AI robots to help make companies more accessible to non-binary and LGBTQ+ minorities.
TaxPayers’ Alliance investigation campaign manager Joanna Marchong added: “Officials are milking expenses. That reckless attitude is spreading to other public sector spending like university grants.
“Ministers need to wake up, crack down on waste, and start treating taxpayers’ money with the care it deserves.”
A Government spokesperson said: “We are determined to ensure that taxpayer’s money is supporting our priorities.”
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GettySoftware firm Clusivity received £214,330 into using AI robots to help make companies more accessible to non-binary and LGBTQ+ minorities[/caption]
AlamyCoventry University, where almost £200,000 was awarded to academics exploring online dancing trends[/caption]
Videos shared publicly online show the man’s hip-hop routine to cheers from studentsInstagram
10 oddball schemes tax funds
PROJECTS your money is paying for…
1. Moving Online: Ontology and Ownership of Internet Dance — £199,922
2. Storying Life Courses for Intersectional Inclusion: Ethnicity and Wellbeing Across Time and Place — £1.1million
3. Using AI to Connect the LGBTQ and Arts Communities — £50,000
4. Queer Natures: Animals, Environment and Modern Sexual Knowledge Production — £247,000
5. Critical Dance Pedagogy through Discourse and Practice — £78,000
6. South Asian Dance Equity: The Arts British South Asian Dance Ignores — £83,000
7. The Europe Gay Porn Built, 1945-2000 — £841,000
8. Policy Recommendations to Regain Feminist Losers as Mainstream Voters — £260,000
9. Platform that uses AI to create effective corporate DEI strategies — £214,000
10. Digital Black Dance Ecologies Network — £82,000.
More Woke schemes being funded by British taxpayers
Streeting shrimps stonewall
By Jack Elsom
THE Health Secretary yesterday refused to back the shocking examples of foreign aid spending, as revealed by The Sun.
Wes Streeting was challenged on initiatives such as a £133,000 taxpayer-funded study of shrimp health in Bangladesh.
He told Times Radio: “I’m not defending those individual examples, far from it. The Government has been in for several months and in that time has chosen to undertake a thorough review of government spending.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said, while foreign aid was important for our own national interest, he was ordering a line by line review of all government spending.
He said: “It will ensure taxpayer money is spent with public priorities at the heart of it.”
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