Yes, we do keep banging on about medical misogyny and you'll get no apologies from us. On that note, Mickey's been on the Zoom with journalist Sarah Graham, who specialises in writing about women’s health, to talk about her excellent book, Rebel Bodies: A Guide to the Gender Health Gap Revolution. Hannah's chatting to Lonely Planet writer Jade Bremner about how to do a bucket list holiday on a budget. In Jenny Off The Blocks, Jen's excited about the return of Emma Raducanu. In BT, we're banging ...
Jan 10, 2024•1 hr 34 min
Journalist India Rakusen is about to launch an ambitious new project for Radio 4/BBC Sounds, so Hannah leapt at the chance to chat to her about it. The 27-part series (wow), Child, starts from when a sperm meets an egg, and then follows the mother and her pregnancy, through to birth and the first year of a child's life. India and Hannah chat about why we should all be interested, even if we've no intention of having children ourselves, about the science and the politics of this early stage of hu...
Jan 07, 2024•33 min
Don’t worry, we’ve not come over all ‘new year, new you’ bollocks, but this week’s podzine is packed with exercise chat, from recognising a cult when you see one to getting a bit more bang for your buck when it comes to walking. Jen’s been on the Zoom with writer and performer Kate Sumpter to talk about her one-woman show SPIN, as well as wellness in general, and the ‘church’ of fitness in particular. Meanwhile Hannah, a recent convert to the joy of pounding the P, has been chatting to Joanna Ha...
Jan 03, 2024•51 min•Ep. 928
We're having a little break for Christmas, but to keep you entertained over the festive period, here’s a blast from the gigcast past. Jen’s chosen a cracker - pun intended - from 2017, just as we were about to launch the podzine. In it, the Boss - Sarah Millican - and Mick, play host to Sue Perkins, Zoe Ball and Cariad Lloyd. 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 meg...
Dec 27, 2023•58 min
We're having a little break for Christmas, but to keep you full of Standard Issue joy while you’re in a cheese coma/back at work, here's a favourite gigcast from the before times. In this episode, Mick's taking us back to 2018, when A Very Good Thing Indeed happened for women – and not just that we got Marian Keyes, KT Tunstall and Vicky McClure onstage. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more abo...
Dec 27, 2023•1 hr 5 min
We're having a little break for Christmas, but just in case you are jonesing for our voices, here's a favourite gigcast from days of yore. In this episode Hannah's revisiting one from way back in January 2017, when we spoiled you rotten by putting Sarah Millican, Sharon Horgan, Sandi Toksvig and Claudia Winkleman on the same stage. Yes, you read that correctly. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn m...
Dec 27, 2023•1 hr 2 min
The wonderful Lisa Palfrey is back on our screens over the festive period, alongside all of Wales (almost), in BBC One comedy drama, Men Up*, about a 1994 trial for the then-new drug, Viagra. Hannah jumped at the opportunity to get on the Zoom with Lisa to talk about the show, as well as Welsh talent, Christopher Guest, and one of Hannah’s faves, the 2014 film Pride. Mick’s chatting to the legend that is Robyn Davidson, solo adventurer and author, whose wonderful new memoir, Unfinished Woman, ex...
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 29 min
From the lowly F-bomb, all the way over to the spam-faced jizz clown end of the spectrum, we’re big fans of a swear here on Standard Issue. But why is swearing considered offensive when the words don’t really mean anything offensive? Dr Rebecca Roache, philosopher and senior lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, was keen to get to the bottom of this topic, which she examines in her book, For F*ck’s Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude and Fun. In this week's Chops, she joins Jen to c...
Dec 17, 2023•40 min
Sure, you're probably busy with Christmas prep, but if you'd like some recommendations on what to watch during/after, you've come to the right place. This month we're talking about Lupin, Time, Kin, Vigil, Boat Story, Scrublands, The Crown and Squid Game: The Challenge. You're welcome. 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
Dec 15, 2023•34 min
Milton Keynes, once the UK capital of youth homelessness and dubbed "tent city" by the media, has successfully tackled its rough sleeping crisis. How? Hannah got on the Zoom with city councillor and soon-to-be Labour candidate in the next election (please arrive soon) to find out. Mickey asks theatre director Amy Hodge to pick her favourite kid as they talk about the fantastically great women getting some big rep in the stage show Fantasically Great Women Who Changed the World. In Jenny Off The ...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 22 min
SPOILER ALERT: It’s a massive love-in on Flicking this month, and rightly so, because our Hannah has picked the glorious Paddington 2. Seriously, what’s not to love? Yosra and Mick are also big fans, and there’s even a guest appearance from the bear himself. It’s not all hearts and flowers, mind, as Hannah revisits a grudge against a cartoon bear from the past. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn m...
Dec 09, 2023•24 min
Curator Linsey Young spent five years working on the excellent Women In Revolt! exhibition at Tate Britain and, trust us, it was time very well spent. In this week’s podzine, she talks to Mick about punk art, reclaiming bodies, a three-minute scream, working-class humour, constellations not stars, and eating a baby. Jen has been on the Zoom with historian Kassia St Clair to chat about women drivers, the history of the average motor, sexy (and sexual?) cars, and her new book, The Race to the Futu...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 919
It’s pretty well documented that the beauty industry isn’t particularly kind to women, but why are we accepting the capitalist forces that make us feel almost universally crap about ourselves? And where do they even come from? These are questions that writer, academic and broadcaster Emma Dabiri sets out to answer in her new book Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty. And in this week’s podzine she chats to Jen about beauty standards, empowerment and doing beauty better. Meanwhile, Hann...
Nov 29, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Arit Anderson, garden designer, presenter on BBC Gardeners’ World, host of the Growing Greener podcast, and passionate environmentalist, really loves trees. So much so, she’s co-authored a book about them with botanist Dr Henrik Sjöman. The Essential Tree Selection Guide, in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a brilliant, comprehensive, jargon-free look at how which tree we choose to plant where really matters, as well as a tree bible when it comes to their climate resilience, c...
Nov 26, 2023•44 min•Ep. 917
As you know, we love an angry woman who gets shit done, so Mick's been on the Zoom with Lisa Baskott to find out about 2nd Line of Defence, her award-winning female-focused recruitment agency for the private security sector. Jen's chatting to fashion editor Bay Garnett about her new book Style and Substance: Why What We Wear Matters, thrifting a bargain and sustainable fashion. In Jenny Off The Blocks, Premiership women’s rugby is back and there's news about the environment and missing apostroph...
Nov 22, 2023•1 hr 22 min
Since it’s International Men’s Day, we’ve only gone and invited a man to chat to us for this week’s Chops, because gender inequality is bad for everyone. And what group of men can better demonstrate this than... the England football team? Screenwriter and playwright James Graham’s new play Dear England, got off to a very successful start at the National Theatre and is now enjoying an extended run in London’s West End. So our Jen caught up with James to find out more about it. They chat toxic mas...
Nov 19, 2023•34 min
Oh hello loadsa new TV, welcome to Outside The Box. This week we're talking about Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, The Newsreader, Robbie Williams, Shetland, What We Do In the Shadows, Planet Earth III, Bodies and Savior Complex. If there's not something in that extraordinarily mixed bag for you, we don't know what to tell you. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Nov 17, 2023•41 min
Joni Mitchell is 80, and so Hannah got on the Zoom with musician Jesca Hoop to celebrate the high priestess of folk and living legend. Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever, all of which Jesca explores in her new Radio 4 series, Legend: The Joni Mitchell Story. Meanwhile, Mick’s been chatting to Yuliia Pykhtina, hoola hoop goddess and co-founder of be-Spiegeltented circus-cabaret, La Clique. They talk circus life, living in Ukraine, and delici...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 913
Sport is for everyone says Anna Ptaszynski – QI elf and host of the No Such Thing As A Fish podcast – which is one of the reasons she’s co-authored Everything To Play For: The QI Book Of Sports. In this week’s Chops, she talks to our Jen about how we can make sport more interesting to a wider audience, funny things we didn’t know about sport, novel ways of cheating in the modern pentathlon and, of course, Charlton Athletic. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Host...
Nov 12, 2023•31 min
Is it a troll? Is it a cat-rabbit? Is it an imaginary Japanese spirit of the forest? All of the above, because in this month’s Flicking, our Yosra Osman has got us chatting Totoro, more specifically Studio Ghibli’s 1988 animated film, My Neighbor Totoro. Yosra’s a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s tale of two sisters who, with their dad, move to a new house in the countryside to be nearer their poorly mum, and have adventures with the wondrous spiritual tree guardian who lives nearby. But will Mick an...
Nov 11, 2023•26 min•Ep. 911
With The Lazarus Project – the twist-tastic, time-travelling, Sky sci-fi drama – returning to our screens imminently, our Hannah is chuffed to bits. And even more so to be joined by one of its stars, Anjli Mohindra, on the Zoom, to talk about the show and why she’s just so damn good in it. Mick chats to Natalie Haynes, comedian, classicist and one of our faves. This time, they're talking about Natalie's deep dive into goddesses, which are the subject of her latest book, Divine Might, and include...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 27 min
Cartoonist Lily O’Farrell, who you probably know better as Vulga Drawings, does a fine line in accessible, fun, free, educational, feminist cartoons tackling hot-button topics and the kind of stuff you chat about with your female friends. And so it’s not surprise to find that Lily’s new podcast, No Worries If Not!, is an accessible, fun, free, educational and feminist exploration of how internet culture is affecting all of us, but women in particular. Three episodes in and Lily and her expert gu...
Nov 05, 2023•49 min•Ep. 909
Poker might be male dominated, but is it a man's game? Is it hell, says science writer and competitive player Alex O'Brien. She talks to Hannah about what poker can teach us about what to do when the chips are down and her new book The Truth Detective. Jen's been chatting to director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour about biological clocks, the weight of expectations, and new play, Brenda’s Got A Baby. And in Jenny Off The Blocks, she's talking about the WTA finals, and more besides. In Sexism of The Week...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 24 min
Autumn's usually a jam-packed time for TV schedules, but we're still waiting for some long-promised stuff. In this month's Outside The Box, we catch up with new arrival dates and take a look at some of October's big releases, including Ghosts, Boiling Point, The Long Shadow, The Reckoning, Partygate and Interview with the Vampire. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...
Oct 27, 2023•33 min
In playwright Sadie Hasler’s new thriller, Killing Jack, she explores women reclaiming the streets today, while honouring the lives of Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary Jane – the women killed by Jack the Ripper. She chats to our Mick about family trees, class and privilege, difficult conversations, and why she’s not having Jack the Ripper in her Jack the Ripper play. Jen chats to director Rosie Morris, whose documentary short, My Blonde GF, tells the story of Helen Mort, a woman whose...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 906
Louisa May Alcott is best known for perennially popular novel Little Women, but her life, and indeed her mind, was a lot more interesting still. Hannah's been on the Zoom with writer and editor Liz Rosenberg to chat about the self-described "women's right woman" and essayist. They also talk about hippy communes, civil war nursing, paddling your own canoe, and A Strange Life: Selected Essays of Louisa May Alcott, edited by Liz and out next week. https://www.patreon.com/StandardIssue Support this ...
Oct 22, 2023•27 min
With “cosy crime” making waves in the literary world right now, journalist Hazel Davis jumped on the Zoom to chat to writer Flic Everett about why we’re forgoing gritty reality, and her new series of novels. In Jenny Off The Blocks, Jen chats to Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, former Great British swimming champion and host of the Physical Capital podcast, about representation, mental health, and myth-busting. And in Rated or Dated, we’re feeling the rhythm and, indeed, the rhyme, as we watch 199...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Susannah Walker and Imogen Clark are the two (very excellent) women behind Make Space For Girls, and you may remember Mick had a chat with them a couple of years ago when the charity was just nine months old. Two years on and its campaign to make our parks and public spaces more friendly and accommodating for tween and teenaged girls continues apace, so Mick caught up with Susannah to talk about their recently released Parkwatch report, the fact that most parks have more facilities for dog waste...
Oct 15, 2023•26 min•Ep. 903
Indiana Jones: one of cinema’s greatest characters. It’s big talk from our Mick, who’s in charge of this month’s Flicking and has chosen her favourite (note: not the ‘best’) of the trilogy. Yes, trilogy; you read that right and we’ll be taking no further questions on this matter. 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a high energy, tall tale of derring-do, ancient knights, a big ol’ religious McGuffin and a father-son relationship in need of salvation, directed by Steven Spielberg and starr...
Oct 14, 2023•27 min•Ep. 902
Private investigation isn't like it is on TV. Take that from Caitlin Davies, journalist, author and newly-minted PI, who's been on the Zoom with Mickey to talk about the history of women in the trade and her new book Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths. There's also some history (and science and comedy) in Kiri Pritchard-McLean's new Radio 4 Show The Best Medicine. She chats to Hannah about why she jumped at the chance to make it, as well as about sexual harassment and assaul...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 26 min
