Richard Herring

As I was leaving Shepherd’s Bush tube (Hammersmith and Shitty branch), the man in front of me came to an abrupt stop at the ticket barrier. He was a big, mean looking fella, with cropped hair and, by the looks of it, some kind of concession at the local tattoo parlour. "My travelcard hasn't come out," he complained to a female Underground employee who was standing right in ... read more

The other evening, I was walking around Shepherd's Bush Green to get to the tube station when I noticed a slightly odd man standing on the pavement, observing everyone who passed. To be honest, this isn’t all that unusual on Shepherd’s Bush Green, though what was strange was that his genitalia remained safely inside his trousers.

He was wearing a scruffy plasticy overall and was holding a clicking counting device ... read more

“What are you fucking looking it?” Five words that you never want to hear directed at you. This is why Londoners walk around with our eyes averted as if we were living in the City of the Gods; why we pretend to read John Grisham books on the tube; why we would never know if our capital had been taken over by giant lizard people, provided they all ... read more

Other people’s anger is an amusing thing, provided you are not the focus of it. When the rage pours out over some trivial issue it is, on the surface at least, even more entertaining.

I was in Chiswick, waiting at a pelican crossing for the green man to show. An old fella started to cross the road, just as the traffic lights changed to allow the cars in front of ... read more

I am 40 next July and as part of my burgeoning mid-life crisis, I am attempting to lose my beer gut by then. So it's down to the Health Club six days a week. I've lost over a stone since September, so it's been good for me to have an un-unhealthy obsession for once.

There's a 20 metre pool at the club, which is generally divided into three lanes, based ... read more

I have spent much of the past few days trying to come to terms with what I think about the video footage of Michael "Kramer" Richards’s spectacularly self-destructive attack on some black hecklers at a stand-up gig.

It’s shocking, embarrassing and awful in every degree – not just because of what he is saying, but because we are almost certainly witnessing the final moments of a man’s career. His ... read more