‘Woke waste': The biggest scandal you've never heard of
Charlotte Gill is an investigative journalist who founded and runs Woke Waste, a website that examines taxpayer funded grants to charities and institutions. She describes herself on X as running 'DOGE UK', DOGE being the Elon Musk headed Department of Government Efficiency in Trump's administration.
' There are a lot of government quangos, especially in the arts sector. You've got the Arts Council England, which we give £445 million per year to. It funds the likes of Soho Theatre, giving it just under £2 million, which put on shows like '52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals' and a comedy show where white audience members are encouraged to check their privilege at the door.'
She joins Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan on this week's Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above.
' One of the worst areas that would worry taxpayers is the funding going into charities. We think that they're good causes, but a lot of them are lobbying for open borders, with our money.
' I also think there's a bigger danger with NGOs [non-government organisations] generally. Most of them are politically active and Far Left in a way that the Right would never be able to get away with. It's potentially opening up Britain to lots of foreign interference meddling.'
Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
33 minutes ago
- Politico
Trump still blames Hamas for crisis in Gaza but has ‘new concerns'
A White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president's thinking, asserted that Trump 'hasn't changed his fundamental belief' that Hamas is 'largely' to blame for the protracted conflict. Still, referring to Trump's own comments in recent days, the official acknowledged 'some new concerns.' Those concerns, spurred by photos and accounts of starving children, are echoed within MAGA circles and the broader public. A Gallup poll this week showed that American support for Israel's military action has dropped to 32 percent, a new low. Trump 'calibrates his interactions based on what the issues are. And sometimes people make the mistake of not just listening to the president,' said a senior White House official granted anonymity to discuss the president's thinking. 'He's just straightforward on this stuff. … Like, what's going on with Gaza and Israel. He wants to settle it. Yes, you can't negotiate with Hamas. But, like, he doesn't want kids to starve. He doesn't want that to happen. It's just, that's it. You know, there's not more to it than that.' That doesn't mean Trump is ready to embrace some foreign allies' call to recognize Palestinian statehood — although his opposition may not be quite as firm as it was a couple months ago. Trump earlier this summer privately urged French President Emmanuel Macron against recognizing a Palestinian state, according to two people familiar with the conversation, who were granted anonymity to share closely held details. The call, which has not been previously reported, did not produce the intended result and Macron announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state last week. But when Trump was asked about it while traveling in Scotland last weekend, he was nonchalant about Macron going ahead with something he'd worked privately to forestall. 'What he says doesn't matter,' the president said. During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump seemed almost agnostic about Palestinian statehood, leaving his counterpart space to fall in line behind Macron.
USA Today
41 minutes ago
- USA Today
Extortion, yoga, moldy food: Inside Ghislaine Maxwell's life behind bars in Tallahassee
Although the meeting with the Department of Justice isn't occurring there, eyes are turning to the state capital's federal women's prison that houses Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and herself a convicted sex trafficker. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is meeting with Maxwell at the federal courthouse in downtown Tallahassee July 24 in an effort to find any stones that might've been left unturned in the high-profile Epstein case. The DOJ is hoping to uncover names of other accomplices that were involved in the sex-trafficking scheme, and Maxwell might be investigators' best source of information. In December 2021, Maxwell, 63, was convicted of luring and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused and exploited by Epstein — the wealthy financier who died by suicide while in custody and awaiting trial in 2019. The meeting with the DOJ was originally said to be taking place at the prison, but instead Maxwell spent a day beyond the steel bars she's now been living behind. Maxwell has been in Tallahassee for three years The disgraced British socialite was transferred to Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee in 2022; Florida was a state where some of the crimes for which she was convicted occurred. For three years, Maxwell worked to entice young girls to visit Epstein's Palm Beach residence, "to engage in sex acts with Epstein, after which Epstein, Maxwell, or another employee of Epstein's would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash," as previously reported. FCI Tallahassee, at 501 Capital Circle N.E., is a low-security federal correctional institution for women with a men's detention center. It houses over 1,200 altogether, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons database. Just last year, Maxwell was moved to the prison's "honor dorm" for being on her best behavior. The cushier living quarters are reserved for 30 to 40 of the best-behaved inmates, and because there are so few occupants, she is almost guaranteed her own room with more storage. Maxwell spends her time behind bars teaching etiquette, yoga Inmates housed inside the federal institution have access to a variety of "leisure time activities" and classes. People can participate in everything from yoga, Pilates, "arts and crafts programs to intramural team sports such as softball, basketball, and volleyball," according to FCI Tallahassee's handbook. In 2023, Maxwell reportedly started teaching an etiquette class, according to The Daily Mail. She also taught a yoga class and held a position at the prison library. Apprenticeship programs in cooking, painting, woodworking among others are also offered at the prison. Extortion attempt leaves Maxwell fearing for safety in prison Two years ago, Maxwell ran into issues with two women known within the prison walls as "Las Cubanas." Maxwell is a vegan and arranged for a kitchen worker to sneak her extra fruit, vegetables and tofu in exchange for items she bought with her commissary orders, as previously reported by The Daily Mail. The violent inmates found out and threatened to tattle unless Maxwell spent her entire commissary limit on items for them. The convicted sex trafficker reported the duo for trying to extort her, landing them 47 days in solitary confinement. But when they were released back into the prison's general population, fears of retaliation rose, leading Maxwell to refuse using the shower stalls and to be assigned a guard to escort her to and from her prison library job. In response to the threat, the pair was moved to a different unit, but a source told the Daily Mail the two have a reputation within the prison's walls for being mean and holding a grudge. Inspector General report details horrific conditions inside women's prison The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General conducted an "unannounced inspection" this May 2022 and released the full 50-page report later in the fall. Inspectors were met with "alarming" conditions, including inmates being served moldy or rotten food and living with "black substances" on walls and ceilings, as previously reported. Food was found to pose an immediate risk to inmates' health, as rotten food was consistently served and stored in areas with rat droppings and insect infestation. In a survey, more than half of inmates noted that they are frequently served outdated food. The prison dorms weren't any more desirable with "black substances" growing and collecting in various areas feminine products being used in places to soak up water from cracks and leaks consistently found throughout the living spaces. "According to inmates, in advance of a BOP correctional audit performed just prior to our unannounced visit, staff had painted over the housing unit ceilings that contained the black substance," the report said. Elena Barrera is a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida. She can be reached at ebarrera@ Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shutter After Trump Cuts
(Bloomberg) -- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said that it will begin to wind down operations after President Donald Trump signed a package of spending cuts that ended its federal funding. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival We Should All Be Biking Along the Beach Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus 'Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,' CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement Friday. 'CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care,' Harrison added. CPB said that it informed its employees that the majority of staff positions will end with the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2025. The corporation had 105 employees as of 2022. Last month, Congress clawed back $535 million in previously approved annual spending on CPB though 2027. The cuts were part of a $9 billion package of so-called rescissions inspired by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Musk left his role overseeing the federal cost-cutting effort in May. The law ended a half-century of funding for the corporation, which finances the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio. Those outlets receive a small portion of their funding from federal sources in addition to dollars from sponsors and individual donors. Supporters of public broadcasting warn the cuts to CPB will force the closure of smaller rural stations across the country. 'For over half a century, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has partnered with PBS and our member stations to serve communities large and small in every corner of the country,' Jason Phelps, a spokesman for PBS, said in a statement. 'As this remarkable institution winds down, PBS is committed to building on CPB's legacy and maintaining our service to the American people for years to come.' NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement that the 'closure of CPB represents the loss of a major institution and decades of knowledge and expertise.' 'We will continue to respond to this crisis by stepping up to support locally owned, nonprofit public radio stations and local journalism across the country, working to maintain public media's promise of universal service, and upholding the highest standards for independent journalism and cultural programming in service of our nation,' Maher said. The nonprofit CPB's most recent tax return showed that it received 99.8% of its income from government grants. By law, more than 70% of that federal funding went directly to more than 1,500 local public radio and television stations, according to the corporation's financial statements. The typical station relies on CPB's federal funding for about 13% of its revenue. Public broadcasting has been a target of both cultural and fiscal conservatives for more than three decades, with complaints that its national programming and news often skewed to the left. 'The kind of money that's being wasted, and it's a very biased view,' Trump said in March. 'And I'd be honored to see it end.' (Updates to add PBS, NPR statements starting in 7th paragraph) How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
