Dec 2009 01

Lap dancing in the public sector11

LappingStaggering news this week: the University of Leeds are advertising for a researcher, on £31,000 salary paid for by you and I, to look into lap dancing. To travel the length of the country, valiantly talking to every lap dancer they can find, and then produce a report, telling us why these girls are lap dancing, and if they're being exploited.

Taxpayers in Leeds have understandably questioned the need for this post, many of them will be facing cuts in public services in the coming years, and think there is a plethora of better things for the money to be spent on. We agree, and have said so in the press. And Leeds University have form on wasting precious time and money: they have previously put a lot of energy into finding out the right way to both grill bacon and make a cup of tea…

It is not that lap dancers don't need protection, of course they do. And there are many fine organisations (both taxpayer and non taxpayer funded) that fight for their rights, monitor their health and well-being and research what brought them to their chosen profession. Indeed, if the University of Leeds wanted to carry out this research from private funds, that too would be their affair. But additional research, and creating a new post just for this end, will achieve nothing but to anger and bemuse the public in equal measure.

It's true that some people see lap dancing as exploitative, and will never set foot in a lap dancing club – that's their right. Lap dancing is legal though, and they must except that it exists and will continue to flourish for as long as it proves highly profitable employment for young ladies. Unlike human trafficking which is deadly, illegal and a much under researched blight on our society.

Bottom line is that this post is not a spending priority right now, and it will make no concrete difference. You may find it amusing, you may find it aggravating, you may not care that your cash is getting spent in this way. But while this might sound like a dream job for some lucky young man (or woman), it is just another nightmare of public sector waste for many taxpayers. 

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  • http://profile.typepad.com/ohthisbloodypc OhThisBloodyPC

    Where can I apply?
    Seriously.

  • http://strangersbar.blogspot.com Blue-Eyed-Boy

    While this sounds like a silly post, I still think that universities must be able to chose their research interests independently. Otherwise it opens to door to a whole host of governments literally telling us what to think.
    If I was a fee-paying student at Leeds however, or a researcher trying to got money for somethiing useful I would be annoyed.

  • Steve Robson

    Susie
    With your education and you not being some useless public sector functionary but a representative of the wealth generating elite of this country, I really would have thought you’d know the difference between “except” and “accept” (para 4). Please use the right word; I really do expect more of private education.
    Steve

  • AdrianS

    Steve— you really need to get out a bit, bitching about Susie’s typo just sounds so AR. Susie does a sterling job!
    Why dont you pop down you local lap dancing club for a night out of relaxation

  • Chris

    Not really wanting to sound like a grouch Suzie after you’ve already been taken to task over your grammar can I point out also the correct wording for your first sentence. It should read “you and me” not “you and I”. There’s a simple rule, take out the “you and” leaving the “me” or whatever, then it’s easy to see what is correct xx

  • http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83550306a69e2012875f7e9e9970c Ian D

    No Adrian, Steve is quite right. YOUR attitude just excuses the eroding standard of written English in this country.

  • John Brisk

    Steve. You’re missing punctuation in your silly complaint about a good article.

  • charles dampney

    Steve is quite right to pick up this mistake — for that it surely was — not lack of education.

  • Gordon Athill

    If you want to apply, you’ll have to go to Maidstone, in Kent. This is not where the interviews are taking place, this is the end of the queue…

  • phillip farr

    Another fake job to help ‘New Labour’ in the north – they are all fu!*ing freeloading scum. We should bring Hadrians Wall a couple of hundred miles south from the Wash to the Severn.
    To hell with these New Labour voting parasites.

  • http://www.taxpayersalliance.com Stephen Slight

    Fantastic job, well wrth the money. For me I would like to study pole dancers and female strippers, oh and interview them as well. Where do I sign up, and can I be arrested for it by our PC PCs