Smile Club , the new play from theatre-maker and actor Andrea Heaton, follows Lisa, an attendee of Smile Club – Smile Club being the government drive that exists to tame unruly women in Andrea’s imagined dystopian future. Although, as she and Mickey touch on, that dystopia feels closer than is comfortable. Smile Club is a Red Ladder production and opens at Leeds Playhouse on March 5 before going on tour. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See ac...
Mar 05, 2020•19 min•Ep. 349
On day three of our International Women's Day 2020 series, we give you the gift of Su Pollard, actor and national treasure, best known as Hi-de-Hi's Peggy, and now starring in one-woman show Harpy . Jen chats to Su about mental health, ageing stars, wedding singers and upsetting passengers from the mighty Harwich Ferry. And parrots, obviously. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad...
Mar 04, 2020•28 min
Inspiring force of nature and all-round top woman Sophie Walker chats to Mickey about: activism and how we can all get involved; being an optimistic feminist (and how we can all be one); how being the founding leader of the Women’s Equality Party changed her life; her recent appointment as CEO of The Young Women’s Trust, and her brilliant book, Five Rules For Rebellion: Let’s Change The World Ourselves. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See aca...
Mar 03, 2020•39 min•Ep. 347
In the first of our special interviews celebrating International Women's Day 2020, Hannah and Jen chatted to actor and writer Amelia Bullmore about her varied career. They talked about working with such excellent women as Sally Wainwright and Val McDermid, the joy of costumes, Coronation Street and - of course - I'm Alan Partridge , as well as how to write crime drama responsibly. Loads more bonus IWD podcasts to enjoy this week, so don't forget to press subscribe wherever you are listening to t...
Mar 02, 2020•49 min
In this episode Jen catches up with author Molly Aitken to chat about her debut novel, The Island Child . They talk about motherhood, mental health, mythology, and why women don't ever seem to catch a break when it comes to complicated characters. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Mar 01, 2020•26 min
At last year's Edinburgh Fringe, Mick, Hannah and Jen had a bloody lovely chat with comedian Laura Lexx and presenter and author Janet Ellis. They talked about finding a thing's peril (but doing it anyway!), the joy and revelation of napping, Goldie the dog, Goldie the musician, and the importance of the Night Stool Man. You’re probably going to have to listen if you want to know what that means. Our next gig is on March 29 as part of Podfest Birmingham, where we’ll be joined by bloody excellent...
Feb 26, 2020•55 min
From Marian Keyes to Jilly Cooper, Joanne Harris to Toni Morrison, Barbara Cartland to Gabriel Garcia Marquez: romantic novels are a broad church able to tackle a lot of big topics and hot potatoes. And yet a lot of people still get sniffy when it comes to romance. We chatted to the bloody smashing Alison May, Chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association – this year celebrating its 60th anniversary – about changing hearts and minds, inclusivity, literary love stories, that time Cliff Richard pla...
Feb 23, 2020•40 min•Ep. 343
Ever wondered why some of the women around you just can't seem to catch a break in the workplace? In the fourth and final episode of our series on pregnancy, Jen catches up with Aceil Haddad, head of comms at the pregnancy and maternity rights charity Pregnant Then Screwed. They chat about the problems facing women in the workplace who are pregnant, on maternity leave or have returned to work after having kids, as well as the "comedy" tropes associated with motherhood and older women, feeling se...
Feb 23, 2020•39 min
FANFARE PLEASE. It's our 100th podzine and, woman oh woman, is it a bumper banger. (Yes. Yes it is.) Kiran Millwood-Hargrave writes beautifully of women's experiences from history and The Mercies , her debut adult fiction (although don't think you're too old to read her children's and YA books), is no different, charting a 17th Century real-life devastating storm and imagining what happened in the three years between that and a real-life devastating witch hunt. She tells Jen all about The Mercie...
Feb 19, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 341
We hear quite a lot about the joy and wonder of pregnancy, rather less about the stress of wondering if something's wrong or you just need to fart. In part three of our series on pregnancy, Jen talks to Anna Cook, team member at Mumsnet, about mental health in pregnancy, the anxiety around growing a human, and what you can do to help yourself and others experiencing it. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...
Feb 16, 2020•37 min
Journalist Hazel Davis had The Best Time when we sent her to the British Library to chat with author and all-round hilarious woman Nina Stibbe. Chat veers delightfully wildly from Nina's first book, Love, Nina , to wayward mothers, prudish teens, being first published at 50, and when it's okay to risk pissing off your entire family. Nina's novel Reasons To Be Cheerful is out in paperback now. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...
Feb 16, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 339
In the first of our new film podcast, Flicking *sniggers*, we're off to the Oscars where there is laughter, terror, some really old white dudes, and not a lot for anyone else. That's right, this month we watch the winners ( Parasite , Joker , Jojo Rabbit ), the losers ( The Irishman ) and the not-even-nominated ( Just Mercy and Queen & Slim) . Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about you...
Feb 14, 2020•39 min
Looking for a clever woman? Well, lucky you, we've four of them for you and that doesn't even include us. This week, Mick catches up with photographic artist Mandy Barker to talk about her exhibition Our Plastic Ocean , a retrospective of her work addressing the global crisis of marine plastic pollution. Jen talks to science journalist Ziya Tong about her book The Reality Bubble and society's blindspots. And Hannah's chatting to Dr Suzi Gage about her new book Say Why To Drugs and what the Gavin...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 34 min
QI Elf, Museum of Curiosities producer and our resident bookworm Anne Miller came round to Mick's to chat to the team about her new kids' book, Mickey And The Animal Spies . Talk covered spies, animals we’d like to live with, the joy of kids books, and that time Dunleavy worked in Harrods' swimwear section. It was delightful. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...
Feb 09, 2020•25 min•Ep. 336
The internet can be a nightmare for women trying to navigate the dos and myriad of don'ts for pregnant women, especially when it comes to staying active during pregnancy. Now that she is very much up the duff, Jen wanted to find out more about what she should be doing to stay fit, and fortunately Dr Marlize de Vevo and Sally Kettle of the Active Pregnancy Foundation were on hand to advise. Spoiler alert: there's no such thing as "should". Just to add, while these birds know their stuff, every pr...
Feb 09, 2020•48 min
2020 has started with a bang on TV, so we've watched loads so you can get away with just watching the best bits. You are welcome. In this episode we chat Deadwater Fell, Killer Inside: The Mind Of Aaron Hernandez, Cobra, Sex Education, Messiah, The Outsider, You and Cheer. Plus Hannah wants us to make Lucy Worsley a National Treasure. The campaign starts here! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn m...
Feb 07, 2020•46 min
This week, we chat to actor and writer Katie Arnstein about the final play in her It’s A Girl! trilogy, Sticky Door , which covers her year-long journey of sexual exploration. Journalist and author Susannah Cahalan tells Jen about her book The Great Pretender , about understanding “madness” and the blurring of lines between physical and mental health. In Jenny Off the Blocks, personal trainer and author of Train Happy , Tally Rye, tells us about giving #fitspo the middle finger, and it’s a right...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 17 min
Women's bodies are a constant source of controversy and debate, during pregnancy as much as any other time in our lives. In the first of a series about pregnancy running throughout February, Jen checked out the Foundling Museum's Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media exhibition, and caught up with its curator Karen Hearn, as well as the museum's director Caro Howell, to find out why this stage of a woman's life has historically been so shrouded in mystery, and precisely what an art ...
Feb 02, 2020•35 min
Multi-hyphenates Daisy Haggard and Tiff Stevenson joined Mick and Hannah at Kings Place on the eve of the general election – oh heady days of hope! – for a cracking gig, which involved some very entertaining politics chat that led to us all living on an island with talking sharks. Ahh, we wish. There’s also a whirlwind lesson in yoga for Mick and Hannah, a lot of sweating when it comes to thinking of things we like about ourselves, crying in the tax office, Googling big gardens, passive-aggressi...
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 331
It's Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, so in this episode of the Sunday Chops we speak to Kate Sanger, head of communications and public affairs at Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, and Mercedes, one of the charity's volunteers. We chatted about the #SmearForSmear campaign, HPV and how it is linked to cervical cancer, and what we can all do to help encourage those who can to have a smear test. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...
Jan 26, 2020•25 min
It's our last podzine before that big Brexit date, so this week we're talking to Maike Bohn, from campaign group The 3 Million about how EU27 citizens feel about life in a post-Brexit Britain, what their chances of staying here are and what we can all do to make life a bit easier for them. Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, Mickey chats to composer Na'ama Zisser about her new work Lovesick, which is part of a special performance at Manchester Jewish Museum on Monday 27 January. In Jenny Off The Bl...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 14 min
Child abuse isn't most people's first choice of conversation topic, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it. Last week, Hannah went to the Internet Watch Foundation to meet its CEO Susie Hargreaves to learn more about what the charity is doing to remove images of child sexual abuse online, why we shouldn't ever call it child pornography and how they look after the mental health of their staff whose job it is to see such videos. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespo...
Jan 19, 2020•34 min
No Bush Telegraph or Dunleavy Does Disaster this week but, instead, a whopping four interviews with top women. Hannah chats to Joan Smith, Chair of The Mayor of London's Violence Against Women and Girls Board, about the recent horrendous Cyprus rape case and why it doesn’t end there when it comes to the legal difficulties facing victims of sex crimes. Mick talks to Kiley Reid about her excellent book Such a Fun Age , a whole host of privileges, and life in Trump’s US. Jen catches up with Standar...
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 15 min
Fancy zipping around town on a bike rather than sitting in endless traffic jams? Well, there may be politics on those there streets, but there are still plenty of reasons to start cycling. In this episode, comedian Vanessa Hammick and teacher Amy Foster, founders of the Croydon Cycle Theatre, tell us the whys and hows to getting on your bike. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad ...
Jan 12, 2020•35 min
Need to save some money in January? Then stay in and watch the telly. Hannah's got some news on what's coming up this month, including another Jonestown documentary, because yes, we still need them. We also talk Dracula and The Trial of Christine Keeler . And Mickey has finally finished Succession , so we can discuss the worst aspects of Shiv (spoiler alert, it's all of her) and why there is so much to love about intergenerational power couple Boss 'n' Toss. And finally, FINALLY, the last series...
Jan 10, 2020•46 min
Ever wanted to harness the power of ‘No’? Yes? Thought so. In that case, Hannah’s chat with the ever-excellent guide to giving no fucks and sweary delight Sarah Knight is for you, as she talks through ways to make saying no easier. Her book Fuck No! is absolutely worth your yes. Tour de force Rosalind Blessed currently has two plays in rep at the Old Red Lion Theatre , London, and she tells us about The Delights Of Dogs and the Problems Of People and Lullabies For The Lost , both of which cover ...
Jan 08, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 324
We begin 2020 by looking back at a great year of women's sport in the time-honoured tradition of a bloody great big quiz. Jen makes like Sue Barker to host, as we discover just how much attention Hannah and Mickey have been paying to the weekly JOTB, as they answer questions alongside our special guests, journalists Kelly Welles and Natasha Henry. Contains pies, cheese and more than a pinch of Jamie Redknapp. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. S...
Jan 01, 2020•52 min
It's Boxing Day, so why not gather those members of your family you're still talking to and join in with our TV Quiz of The Year. Team captains Mickey and Jen are joined by TV critic Julia Raeside and writer and one third of Drunk Women Solving Crime Hannah George, as our Hannah asks the questions about what's been on the box in 2019. Happy quizzing! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about ...
Dec 26, 2019•48 min
Joe Lycett, Nish Kumar, Craig Parkinson and the boss herself, Sarah Millican? What. A. Lineup. Yep, in one last aural treat before Christmas, we bring you three wise men (and one woman) from our IMD gig recorded back in November. Oh, and also Mick and Hannah. Chat involves solo volleyball, climate change, peer pressure, being Buzz Killington in a WhatsApp group, sharing feelings and just how much Mummy has been drinking. Whatever you’re up to over the festive period, we hope you have a smashing ...
Dec 24, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 321
When Priya Basil was asked to write a book about hospitality, she was struck by how many forms this could take, something she explores beautifully in her book Be My Guest . Jen caught up with Priya to talk the joys of generosity, food, shelter and the general warmth of humanity - because it's out there somewhere, right? Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...
Dec 22, 2019•33 min
