Guy Dorrell

Asking drivers to restrict themselves to 'essential journeys' when 25% of car journeys in the UK are under 1 mile and 75% are under 5 miles is a seemingly impossible challenge.

> do something terrible with your car > claim it was "an accident" > argue that you're a hard-working driver > "the war on motorists" > get an absolutely minimal sentence for something you'd otherwise go away for years for if you did it with anything but a car

@nationalexpress Told earlier on the phone that your operator didn’t know the difference in price but it would only be ‘a couple of quid’. It’s actually £18.90 vs £35 (Brighton to LHR3) , so pretty poor advice. How do I get a refund please?

The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974. And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself. Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy." This is about the petrodollar system that has kept America the dominant economic power for 50 years. And Venezuela just threatened to end it. Here's what really just happened: Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The largest on Earth. More than Saudi Arabia. 20% of the entire world's oil. But here's the part that matters: Venezuela was actively selling that oil in Chinese yuan. Not dollars. In 2018, Venezuela announced it would "free itself from the dollar." They started accepting yuan, euros, rubles, anything BUT dollars for oil. They were petitioning to join BRICS. They were building direct payment channels with China that bypass SWIFT entirely. And they were sitting on enough oil to fund de-dollarization for decades. Why does this matter? Because the entire American financial system is built on one thing: The petrodollar. In 1974, Henry Kissinger made a deal with Saudi Arabia: All oil sold globally must be priced in US dollars. In exchange, America provides military protection. This single agreement created artificial demand for dollars worldwide. Every country on Earth needs dollars to buy oil. This lets America print unlimited money while other countries work for it. It funds the military. The welfare state. The deficit spending. The petrodollar is more important to US hegemony than aircraft carriers. And there's a pattern of what happens to leaders who challenge it: 2000: Saddam Hussein announces Iraq will sell oil in euros instead of dollars. 2003: Invaded. Regime change. Iraq's oil immediately switched back to dollars. Saddam lynched. The WMDs were never found because they never existed. 2009: Gaddafi proposes a gold-backed African currency called the "gold dinar" for oil trade. Hillary Clinton's own leaked emails confirm this was the PRIMARY reason for intervention. Email quote: "This gold was intended to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar." 2011: NATO bombs Libya. Gaddafi sodomized and murdered. Libya now has open slave markets. "We came, we saw, he died!" Clinton laughed on camera. The gold dinar died with him. And now Maduro. With FIVE TIMES more oil than Saddam and Gaddafi combined. Actively selling in yuan. Building payment systems outside dollar control. Petitioning to join BRICS. Partnered with China, Russia, and Iran. The three countries leading global de-dollarization. This isn't coincidence. Challenge the petrodollar. Get regime changed. Every. Single. Time. Stephen Miller (US homeland security advisor) literally said it out loud two weeks ago: "American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property." He's not hiding it. They're claiming Venezuelan oil BELONGS to America because US companies developed it 100 years ago. By this logic, every nationalized resource in history was "theft." But here's the DEEPER problem: The petrodollar is already dying. Russia sells oil in rubles and yuan since Ukraine. Saudi Arabia is openly discussing yuan settlements. Iran has been trading in non-dollar currencies for years. China built CIPS, their own alternative to SWIFT with 4,800 banks in 185 countries. BRICS is actively building payment systems that bypass the dollar entirely. The mBridge project lets central banks settle trades instantly in local currencies. Venezuela joining BRICS with 303 billion barrels of oil would accelerate this exponentially. That's what this invasion is really about. Not stopping drugs. Venezuela accounts for less than 1% of US cocaine. Not terrorism. There's zero evidence Maduro runs a "terror organization." Not democracy. The US supports Saudi Arabia, which has zero elections. This is about maintaining a 50-year-old agreement that lets America print money while the world works for it. And the consequences are terrifying: Russia, China, and Iran are already denouncing this as "armed aggression." China is Venezuela's biggest oil customer. They're losing billions. BRICS nations are watching a country get invaded for trading outside the dollar. Every nation considering de-dollarization just got the message: Challenge the dollar and we will bomb you. But here's the problem... That message might accelerate de-dollarization, not stop it. Because now every country in the Global South knows what happens if you threaten dollar hegemony. And they're realizing the only protection is to move FASTER. The timing is insane too: January 3rd, 2026. Venezuela invaded. Maduro captured. January 3rd, 1990. Panama invaded. Noriega captured. 36 years apart. Almost to the day. Same playbook. Same "drug trafficking" excuse. Same real reason: control of strategic resources and trade routes. History doesn't repeat. But it rhymes. What happens next: Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago sets the narrative. US oil companies are already lined up. Politico reported they've been approached about "returning to Venezuela." The opposition will be installed. Oil will flow in dollars again. Venezuela becomes another Iraq. Another Libya. But here's what nobody's asking: What happens when you can no longer bomb your way to dollar dominance? When China has enough economic leverage to retaliate? When BRICS controls 40% of global GDP and says "no more dollars"? When the world realizes the petrodollar is maintained by violence? America just showed its hand. The question is whether the rest of the world folds or calls the bluff. Because this invasion is an admission that the dollar can no longer compete on its own merits. When you have to bomb countries to keep them using your currency, the currency is already dying. Venezuela isn't the beginning. It's the desperate end. What do you think?

@TheWaveLeisure There’s no answer to your phone in Lewes, are you closed today?

@CentralPictureH @PicEntFilms Hello, I'm trying to book to see this on Friday at Dukes at Komedia in Brighton. Neither your general enquiries or your membership phone lines are being answered and there seems to be no way to use the tickets that came with the membership I purchased recently. Not impressed.

Moments from our Sorry, Baby Q&A with Eva Victor on Monday night 💙 Don't miss Sorry, Baby coming to a screen near you via @PicEntFilms from this Friday, 22 Aug.

@SW_Help Can you... help?

@south_railway Problems with your web site when trying to reset password. Asking for recapcha when there is none to fill in! Can you fix please?

@OxonCyclingNet @rail_guns Does your police force actually prosecute this kind of abomination? Hope so!

@rail_guns Driver in a very big and dangerous car going down the Broad Street cycle track this afternoon.

Umm excuse me what. 😭 There's like 1.5 pedestrianised streets in Oxford and drivers can't even keep off those!?

@BerylBikes There is considerable damage being done to a bunch of your bikes on the seafront in #Brighton. Reported to @sussex_police half an hour ago but they don’t seem seem interested in attending. Tried calling your support but ends at 9, really?

We joined up with @cities_clean and @MumsForLungs this morning to support the launch of a terrifying new report from @transenv which shows that children under the age of 9 cannot be seen by the driver when directly in front of the vehicle.

@drhingram 😂😂😂

I’m selling tequila infused with a drop of my toilet bowl water, if anyone is interested?

@brightontaxi This one of yours? Pointed out he was badly obstructing the pavement and politely asked him to move but he said he was entitled to wait there to pull into the rank and got abusive. Have a word please? #brightontaxis

@SouthernRailUK this service (Brighton to Shoreham) is horribly packed and uncomfortable, anyone with buggy or bike struggling. You very much need to run longer trains at this time, please sort it. All your staff seem aware of the unacceptable nature of this 😬

to the person who stole our bike…

@LJRyder16 @OpenChiswickW4 It’s pesky when facts don’t support your narrative isn’t it 😬

@guydorrell1 @OpenChiswickW4 Glad to see LTNs are promoted by open minded people capable of nuance & reflection

Anti-LTNers are just vexatious complainants. It’s so funny how they have flipped from celebrating an unevidenced anti-LTN rant that appealed to their prejudices in the Guardian one day to inchoate rage that somebody has presented an evidence-based counter opinion the next.

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

@LJRyder16 @OpenChiswickW4 Simply not true, there’s a great deal more evidence suggesting they work for everyone. There will be many more of them and no degree of carping and individual teeny blips like this is going to change that 🤷‍♂️💪

@OpenChiswickW4 PS I am not anti LTN- I am pro Equality +Social justice If you took your head out of your bucket there is growing actual evidence that shows LTNs are promoting inequality & divsion

Suggesting that not every short journey needs to be made in a car inevitably leads to the question, "How do you expect me to transport my van load of tools?" London, hold my beer 👇

@angelazhay @lewis_goodall Cargo bikes can deliver most things up to 250kg. Anything heavier than that could be given access in an early morning slot or with retractable bollards as many other cities do well. Research suggest cyclists & peds spend more than drivers. Do educate yourself…

@lewis_goodall It is not the solve all many think. It causes many problems with deliveries etc. What about residents already there? Do they want to be unable to access their homes? It can also sometimes kill retail. Good for hospitality but many find it hard to access. A mix is better.

In any other major city in Europe the streets of Soho would obviously be pedestrianised and businesses/visitors on a glorious day like today could enjoy al fresco dining. But thanks to Westminster Council and the way we give outsized power to absurd local complaints, not here!