Bolted. The. Horse. Has. Door. Close. Stable. After. The.

It seems there are some people in Britain who just don’t understand what it means to live in a democracy.

At the time of writing, more than three million people have signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum. I have been informed about it over the last few days by numerous Facebook posts and emails.

WARNING – you may be offended by what I say next.

What planet are the people signing this petition living on? Rearrange the words in the headline on this post and my feelings are clear - the Great British public has spoken and we now have to live with the decision. Whether we like it or not.

And we have to work together to make the best of it.

The petition has attracted a lot of attention but has no chance of being enacted because it is asking for retrospective legislation. What sort of country would we have if that started to happen?

The sort where if you don’t agree with a democratic process you use any means to get your way?

Be afraid – very afraid.

The irony of this whole petition thing is that it was apparently set up by a Brexiter who was concerned the Remainers would triumph. He now claims the Remainers have hijacked it.

I know I’m weird but I just love it when this sort of thing happens. I’d be laughing if it wasn’t so serious.

The decision is clear – we must stay in

I have not, to date, voiced my opinion on the subject that is on everyone’s lips at present.

But I can now reveal to my reader that I am definitely hoping that we remain.

Yes – England must stay in the Euro 16 tournament.

I realise that Eurexit could have many advantages for our nation, including increased productivity on the shop floor, improved communication between spouses and less work for the UK police spotters
But it would also mean a slump in the value of quarter-final tickets, a huge drop in the value of shares in French brewing companies and the loss of many hundreds of hours of overtime for French policemen.

Therefore I am happy to declare my support for the group I have named Eurin.

Although I think I may need to work on the branding a bit more.

Members of my profession need to embrace change

Some people really do need to move with the times. What makes me say this?

Well, up to 30 photographic jobs are at risk after my former employer Archant announced a restructure which will see reporters take pictures “as a matter of routine”.

The company says it wants to make it clear that all editorial staff should be able to take “publishable quality photographs and video” together with a “renewed focus” on images shared by readers.

Yep - things are constantly changing.

As you can imagine, this has created a storm of protest amongst journalists around the country.

But perhaps it is time for some (most?) of them to ditch their rose-tinted glasses, get real and stop living in the past.

When I started as a junior on my small town weekly newspaper it had an editor, a deputy editor, a chief sub, a sub, a chief reporter, a deputy chief reporter, three reporters, a sports editor, a sports reporter and four (yes, four) photographers. The same newspaper now has no office, no production people and no reporters in the town.

It made money in those days not because of Pulitzer-prize winning journalism every edition but because it had no real local competition.

Now times have moved on and local newspapers face competition from a myriad of sources. So, my fellow journos, I urge you to embrace the changes that are happening, and those that are still to come, and stop harking back to the good old days.

And remember that not all practices were good. It wasn’t that long ago that the evening and morning dailies at a company I worked for would send two photographers (one each) and two reporters (again, one each) to cover a premier league match involving the town’s team.

If it was a Saturday afternoon game and the daily snapper got a “great pic” it would not, as you might expect, be handed to the evening news desk for that day’s footie paper.

It would be hidden in a locked drawer so that the daily’s Monday edition could have the “exclusive”.

And at another paper I worked for the photographers spent most of their time playing darts in their palatial suite while waiting to be assigned jobs. Or spent hours locked away in the dark room processing films. Well, that’s what they said.

Paying people, no matter how qualified they are, to sit around doing nothing most of the day is wrong and makes no business sense.

The world’s a’changing, and fast, and we need to embrace the change – no matter how bitter the pill.

Settlement shows Eva Carneiro IS a clever woman

Just before Eva Carneiro was due to take the stand at London South Employment Tribunal in Croydon yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon she accepted a settlement now thought to be in the region of £5 million from the Special One and Chelsea FC.

It is said Jose Mourinho acted to silence 'scandalous' sexism allegations minutes before she was due to go public with them.k

Chelsea then issued an apology to the 42-year-old – who had turned down the club's initial £1.2million offer – but it seems Mourinho pointedly did not say sorry.

The huge deal was struck as Dr Carneiro prepared to take the witness stand to make further explosive claims. She had threatened to expose embarrassing texts and emails about her time working for the Special One, now manager at Manchester United.

And there I was thinking the money wasn’t important and that she was going to speak out about some of the things that are wrong in the beautiful game.

I’m not sure whether to praise her or criticise her.

On this day 20 years ago my brother-in-law (BIL) and I were at the “old Wembley” to witness the opening ceremony of Euro ’96 and the ensuing first match – England v Switzerland.

We had been England Members for a number of years and early in 1994 were at a rather boring friendly international at the home of football when I picked up a brochure advertising ticketing arrangements for Euro ’96.

England members were given priority before tickets went on general sale in the summer and on March 25 that year my application for two tickets for each of the six Wembley games, including the final, was in the post.

Early in April I received a letter from the tournament organisers saying my application had been successful – whoopee.

I made a quick call to BIL, who was as delighted as I was. I then had a tense wait until SWMBO came home from school.

I’d forgotten, somehow, to tell her I had applied for the tickets – and had spent £580. She took it well, especially after I explained that BIL would be reimbursing me for half the cost.

Looking back, as is my want, an average cost of £48.33 a ticket was not too shabby.

Is Eva a silly woman or a brave and clever woman?

So, former Chelsea first team doctor Eva Carneiro has apparently rejected a £1.2m settlement from the club.

You will have read/ heard that she is claiming constructive dismissal and is also bringing separate legal action against former manager Jose Mourinho, who is said to have called her "daughter of a whore" in Portuguese when she treated Eden Hazard.

Now, as her legal battle with the club begins, lawyers for Chelsea have revealed that she chose to take the case to a hearing rather than accept the payout.

Dr Carneiro, 42, alleges the comment was made by The Special One, who left Chelsea in December, when she ran on to the pitch at Stamford Bridge during a Premier League match against Swansea in August to treat injured forward Eden Hazard.

She is claiming sex discrimination and harassment against the club's former manager following the incident and constructive dismissal against Chelsea.

Her rejection of the cash offer raises, in my mind at least, two differing views.

One, she is a silly woman who could have taken the cash and quietly made herself and her family financially secure for life.

Two, she is a brave and clever woman who refused to be paid off and wants to have her day in court to expose the rampant sexism that many believe still exists in the beautiful game.

Her lawyers would also be aware that the alleged cash settlement, while an enormous sum for us mere mortals, is barely a couple of months’ pay for an average Premier League player. Maybe she is just out to prove that money isn’t everything.

Discuss.