Designer sofas for "stressed-out" Dept. of Communities & Local Govt. staff . . . £135,000

The inquest on Princess Diana . . . £492,000

New furniture for DCLG staff . . . £2.8million

Pensions for the Royal Household . . . £5.6million

Maintenance of historic buildings . . . £37million

Promoting gipsy encampments . . . £38.4million

The Electoral Commission, which failed to check election fraud . . . £48million

Promoting ballet and music . . . £50million

Kew Gardens . . . £68.3million

Refurbishing the National Audit Office's offices . . . £82million

Preparing for the 2011 census . . . £87million

Promoting Labour's "Natural Environment Enjoyment' programme . . . £95million

Pay & Perks for MPs . . . £178million

For a National Measurements Office to force traders to use kilograms instead of pounds & ounces . . . £148.7million

The quango 'Natural England' . . . £442million

Poverty reduction payments to wealty countries in Asia . . . £1.3billion

Aid to EU countries . . . £1.6billion

Consultants to the New Labour regime . . . £1.8billion

Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa . . . £2.5billion

Gold-plated pensions for senior Whitehall civil servants . . . £14billion

Nationalizing the Northern Rock bank . . . £20.3billion

Nationalizing Bradford and Bingley . . . £24.6billion

Bailing out banks other than the Northern Rock & Bradford and Bingley . . . £132.4billion

Source: the government's "Combined Online Information System"

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