Vincenzo Rampulla

Father of dragons. Consultant with a strong digital and data policy geek streak. BEIS, Ofcom, CQC alum.

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

The next PM will inherit this headache - the numbers are huge and the interests obvious. This is prob an area where there needs to be serious public negotiation & a big conversation about the trade-offs involved. It’s not credible to want £10s of billions per yr more without it.

[Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar]

SNAP ANALYSIS: John Healey's departure puts Keir Starmer in an even more difficult position than he was already.

The former defence sec's charge that he is putting UK's security at risk is a devastating one - which will worry Labour MPs & cut through with voters. The fact Tories underfunded defence for years won't wash.

It further weakens Starmer in that this was supposed to be his strong point - and has repeatedly said that keeping nation safe is his number one priority.

Cabinet relations have been badly damaged by the protracted row over plan - with the standoff leading to some of worst infighting since Labour took power over cuts to other department's capital budgets.

International allies will notice Healey's resignation - and reasons why. PM is meeting G7 allies in France next week & is in Ankara for a Nato summit in early July. Awkward timing.

Starmer may also struggle to appoint a credible new defence secretary - for all the ambitious MPs out there - who will be prepared to make case for this plan now?

It also impacts Reeves, who blocked extra spending, and leaves her open to charge of leaving nation unsafe. She faces impossible choices over spending - but many will feel defence should have been priority.

It all makes Starmer's departure - already looking likely - feel inevitable. While his allies say he'll fight any challenge from Andy Burnham if he wins Makerfield - he's just lost one of his most senior cabinet ministers. When the herd moves, and all that.

[Dominic Cummings @Dominic2306]

NB. Some of Healey criticism is right.
BUT it's also right that the WORST parts of the MoD have run rings around him.
He hasn't worked with No10 and HMT to face reality honestly.
HMT is right about the worst parts of the senior MoD and Healey not gripping it.
The MoD is right that HMT processes and general procurement laws make their job impossible, and CO won't support them in changing them.
The CO is right to say that the Mod v HMT battle involves everybody lying.
And No10 is right that everybody including the CO is lying to them and the CO which is supposed to 'coordinate' cannot.
Everybody involved is part lying and part telling truth.
Only a PM determined to face reality and use their full constitutional authority -- a Gvt that controls the Gvt -- can solve this pathological nightmare.
In one week a new PM could get very close to honest budget numbers and be briefed on the secret nuke budgets.
I said before the 2024 election; all discussions of public finances are fake because all Nat Sec budgets are big and fake.
This blow up means the next PM will have to face reality finally - *classify, punt, spin fake accounts* has run out of room after 20-25 yrs.
But NB. this will have big implications for the entire spending plans.
Sorting out the nuke nightmare is huge.
And current spending plans are absurd, pretending to do big cuts in the year before the election.
So it's almost inconceivable the current spending envelopes remain, the new PM will do an emergency budget and a new SR.
Good officials desperate to avoid another PM melting down shd start work on this now so IF there is finally a decent regime in No10, you are ahead of the game...

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

OMG, don’t tell anyone but we’ve got to go see this. The kids look after themselves, eg doom watch that BBC k-pop drama on…or Masterchef given how much they love Grace/Anna. Or take them with - but not at adult prices….obvs!

But we’ve got to see this… https://t.co/e8Z36LI5Xn

[Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot]

This site has become almost unusable because of how many different fake images there are of Farage beating up Andrew Bailey - never seen anything this number... it's like every second post!

[Kirsty Innes @kmei_]

@PeterStuart3 @alys_key Me too. Why?!?

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

Welcoming an immigrant so completely that they could compete to serve as Governor is a great advert for a country and expectation on those who would make their home somewhere else.
Steve Hilton, Tory aide turned California’s would-be governor via @FT
https://t.co/SQ9bs1GF2W

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

Agree - water should just be widely available and free at these sort of events. 👏

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 WATCH: Keir Starmer launches an attack on FIFA for banning refillable water bottles at the World Cup

"It's just wrong... and I can't help but think that it's about making money. The tickets themselves cost a fortune - far too expensive in my view. Think of the fans"

[Matt Clifford @matthewclifford]

The @AISecurityInst is hiring for a Director and for a Chief Research Officer. AISI is a remarkable organisation: doing globally important work, with a world-class team, in the heart of government.

These are some of the highest impact jobs in AI security anywhere. Do consider applying and sharing widely.

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

@AnnabelDenham1 Of all the things to hold your nose about - giving kids breakfast 🤦🏻‍♂️

But to make it £0 additional cost to the taxpayer we could take it from the annual pension bill. It’s like 0.06% of that £138 billion. 🤷‍♂️

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

I’m half tempted by the sheer audacity of it - a Lego set, £650, 12000+ pieces of a famous Spanish landmark that crucially took 144 years to build for real. 😧

https://t.co/o1bqm4KTVC

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

99% are going to comment about steps…
0.99% are going to comment about the dancing…

0.01% will comment about the recovery after the first stumble but then the shut down after falling down.

[Sung Drip Woo @YaBoyRoshi]

IM CRYING! 😂😂

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

@kmflett The word “unusually” doing a surprising amount of heavy lifting there. 🧐

It’s more than halved!

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

I think the 40% are saying something important - like “can we get on with something relevant pls?”

[YouGov @YouGov]

Would Britons vote to leave the Eurovision Song Contest?

Remain: 25% (-8 from 11 May 2023)
Leave: 24% (+12)
Would not vote: 40% (-5)

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

SpaceX filed an application with the FCC petitioning to launch up to a million satellites as part of an “orbital data center.”

It's become a big part of Elon Musk’s pitch to investors ahead of his massive SpaceX IPO. We asked an engineer to break down the biggest hurdles.

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

I say this as a parent with experience - don’t try to punch down on a 10-year old. They’ll take you, your argument and your grammar mistakes…and win.

[Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @JoshEakle]

A 10-year-old wrote MAGA Congresswoman Virginia Foxx for a school project.

He chose to write about an electric vehicle tax credit. Something he thought was good for the environment.

Virginia responded by attacking him and his teacher for being propagandized.

Her words: “your teacher will not be able to give you a good education as they are too interested in indoctrinating you... How sad.”

An 80-year-old woman. Attacking a 10-year-old. For doing his homework.

These people have power over your life.

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

This from @clairehughesBA hammers home an important point - if we don’t deal with online slop, the we’ll be left with the social/financial costs.

It won’t be easy, it’s international, political and enabled by economic realities, but needs to happen.

[Tim Shipman @ShippersUnbound]

Having seen this show multiple times, MPs will be asking themselves “can I get a better job?” And “will the new leader swing the way my heart desires?” Labour MPs will do themselves and the country a favour if they use their heads and ask every leadership contender these questions:

1) What is your plan? Not the vibes or the direction of travel. The actual policies they will prioritise

2) How will you communicate this plan to the voters? (MPs ask yourself if the candidate is a good communicator because without that they are lost)

3) Who is your team to enact this plan both a) in the key cabinet posts and b) in Downing Street. At a bare minimum they should have identified a chief of staff and a director of communications

4) How will your plan persuade the markets not to blow up the government on the launching pad?

If you don’t get proper answers to all these questions move on. Unless they have good answers to all these questions you will be installing another dud

[Kevin McKeever @kevinmckeever]

@nathanparsad and I spotted a gap:

Nobody was covering London’s borough elections with the depth they deserved.

So we got @DaveHill and @lewis_baston at @OnLondon to fix that.

London Decides — a guide to all 32 boroughs going to the polls on May — is live and free.

https://t.co/r7WThL5PJ2

[Kanishka Narayan MP @KanishkaNarayan]

1/The UK has been a global leader in tracking AI cyber capabilities for 2+ years. Our testing shows accelerating capabilities. The UK's @AISecurityInst most recently tested Anthropic's Mythos model, some reflections🧵

https://t.co/jSpKNAyExe

[Vincenzo Rampulla @vmrampulla]

@OvePM @carlatkinhouse @christiancalgie Have you asked the Astral Cafe up the road how they feel about you sending them the Regency’s punters to use the bog?

I’d have more sympathy if there were more public toilets in Westminster for families/older people but there aren’t. Has been a problem for a number of years.