Standard Issue Podcast

Like it or loathe it, social media is a huge part of our everyday lives. That's the topic sociologist and journalist Kathryn Jezer-Morton grapples with in her new book, The Story of Your Life: Social Media, Storytelling and the Branding of Everyday Life, in which she attempts to uncover the deeper truths about how what we see and share on social media is rewriting the ways we make sense...

In this month's guide to the best and worst TV,  we're watching Cape Fear, Katie Price: Nothing To Hide, Ann Droid, Jesy Nelson; Life Changing, The American Revolution and I, Jack Wright. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kathryn Bigelow’s “wet western” action-thriller has something for everyone: Keanu Reeves’ face if your Jen, Gary Busey in general if you’re Mick, and a dog being thrown at a person during a high-speed foot-chase if you’re Hannah. But will this wang-heavy surfer-bank-robber classic stand the test of time? And we did all know it was directed by a woman, right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

On July 28, 1986, estate agent Suzy Lamplugh went to work as normal, preparing to meet a client. She was never seen again and no trace of her has ever been found. Suzy was declared legally dead, presumed murdered, in 1993. In response to her disappearance, her parents Paul and Diana set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and over the last 40 years, the Trust has been responsible for vital work...

Writer and music journalist Cathi Unsworth’s compilation for Ace records, Dressed in Black: Goth Divas From the Dark Side 1941-2025, shines a light on the women who laid the sonic and cultural foundations for Goth. The album is a dark joy and an excellent companion to Cathi’s 2023 book, Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth. And the perfect excuse for our Mick to get Cathi on the Zoom to chat what...

The UK has a new Prime Minister, and you’ll never bloody guess who it is. Mick and Jen talk about the King of the North’s brand new office, as well as some legislative heel-dragging around surrogacy and some Marie-France van Heel-dragging by the usual suspects. There’s good news on shadow-banning, cat-finding and, in JOTB, filming female athletes. Also in JOTB, does anyone have any VAR on the lack...

Addie E. Citchens’s debut novel, Dominion, received A LOT of award nods. And rightly so: set in the Mississippi Delta, it’s a powerful story about powerful men doing powerfully bad things. But Addie puts her focus on what the women who love them have to do to survive them – and how far those women will go to protect them.  Mick chats to Addie about how the patriarchy shapes all of us, th...

After stepping in at the 11th hour to save the event, Glasgow will host The Commonwealth Games when they kick off on July 23. Jen jumped on the Zoom with former GB athletes-turned TNT Sports pundits, Eilidh Doyle, Ellie Simmonds and Beth Tweddle, to chat about the importance of the games, competing in your home nation, and what they’re looking forward to wat...

A Lynne Ramsay film? It’s been a while… The director’s psychological drama slash postpartum nightmare garnered loads of praise for lead actor Jennifer Lawrence and got a fair few awards nods. But what will Team Flicking make of it? Hannah’s got her ‘I heart Lynne Ramsay’ banner out, Yosra’s prepped for the big bleak, but not sure it’s all about the new mumming, and Mick’s real worried about that d...

England in a World Cup semi-final, a Brit in the semis at Wimbledon and Unions Jacks all over the F1 drivers' table, that's a busy few weeks of sport. In a special episode, Jen and Hannah talk about what's going well and what's not, as well as hydration breaks, VAR and other World Cup dramas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This fish-out-of-water comedy-cum-bubblegum “feminist” smash, starring Reece Witherspoon as pink-loving sorority princess Elle Woods, made a killing at the box office, spawned a whole Legally Blonde world, and inspired girls to go to law school. But 25 years on will it make Mick, Hannah and Jen bend… or SNAP?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eleanor Drage is one of the UK’s leading AI ethicists and gender studies researchers, working at the University of Cambridge. Her first book, What If We Got AI Right? How to stop catastrophising and build an ethical future, is released this week, so Hannah grabbed the chance to find out more. * You can pre-order Eleanor's book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/what-if-we-got-ai...

In her short lifetime of just 47 years, Frida Kahlo was a relatively little-known artist. Now, she's a global icon. And while her actual work is hard to come by, her image is not.  Tate Modern's Frida: The Making of an Icon explores how Kahlo's iconic status came to be and her enduring influence on generations of younger artists.  Co-curator Beatriz Garcia-Velasco, ta...

Nicky Denson-Elliott knows that a high tide lifts all boats. She first came to our Mick’s attention because of her current campaign to replace ‘hysterectomy’ with ‘uterectomy’ in NHS patient materials (you can sign the petition here), but it quickly became apparent how many different projects Nicky's got going in order to raise that tide for all boats. And by boats, we mean women.  In this ep...

Mickey and Hannah bring you a veritable rogues gallery this week: Farage, Trump, Infantino, a vigilante cat shaver. Shall we go on a 2,400-mile rowing trip to get away from it? Sure. But don't forget to pack your vaginal oestrogen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood giant John Huston directs Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and – wait – Pelé, in this sports-war drama, reimagining the 1942 “Death Match”. But how bad can a prisoner of war camp be when all you have to do is dick around playing football? How solid is the history? And can you really do that with a sub? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Rebecca Wait makes a return visit to the podcast to chat to Hannah about her latest book Havoc, a dark comedy about a mystery illness that breaks out at a girls' boarding school in 1984. They chat about Cold War anxiety, hysteria and, of course, Picnic at Hanging Rock. Grab a copy of Havoc here Or Suzanne O'Sullivan's The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness here Want to j...

This summer marks the 19th year of the Arcola Theatre’s seminal Grimeborn festival, a season of new and reworked operas. Jen chats to the Arcola’s executive director, Leyla Nazli and Lisa Logan, the composer behind new work After My Breath, about bringing opera to Dalston, why people find the art form intimidating, and those comments by Timothée Chalamet. The Grimeborn Opera Festival runs from 15...

After her first book - Ashes to Admin - was published, a lot of people got in touch with Evie King to tell her they'd been inspired to get plans in place for the end of their lives. If that's what she could achieve without trying, she thought, why not write a book to help people through the whole process? Hannah chats to Evie about Get Ahead of Being Dead, wills, funerals and why the hard conversa...

Is too much screen time really the scourge of the under-twos? And exactly how excited should we be that the first ever female Labour Prime Minister is Andy Burnham, a man who isn’t even Prime Minister yet? Jen and Mick tackle these hot button questions and more in this week’s flirt with the news, which also includes another heinous rape trial, legitimately great news for young women, and Greg Cots...

No-one's going to argue that Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical doesn't have issues, but does it still have things to recommend it? Is Anna an early feminist? Does it contain a banger? Is The Small House of Uncle Thomas a masterpiece? And why was young Hannah so fascinated by Yul Brynner?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Working-class, feminist comedian Rachel Fairburn has long been a guaranteed good laugh on the comedy circuit, and a must-listen on All Killa No Filla, her smash hit true crime podcast with fellow standup Kiri Pritchard-McLean.  Rachel’s new show, Vexy Beasts, moves her into the ‘character comedy’ bracket, as she introduces hairdresser Leanne, fighting for her salon’s life while spilling the T on h...

In her new book, Pleasure: The Reclamation of My Body, journalist and broadcaster Emma-Louise Boynton interrogates the societal forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel pleasure. Jen chats to Emma about Emma's own story, the impact of the male gaze and digital culture on women’s pleasure, why gendered ideas around sex and pleasure are doing us all a disservice,...

Planning on spending the weekend on the sofa with all the fans pointed at you? Here are some suggestions on what you could watch at the same time. This month, we're talking about Two Weeks in August, The Four Seasons, Rivals, The Witness, The Burroughs, Widow's Bay, World War Two with Tom Hanks and what we make of World Cup coverage so far. * Hannah's chatting about why she thinks The Pitt's Dr Ro...

It’s feeling swampish in the UK this week, but spare a thought for the poor old Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool over in Washington DC. It seems Donald J Trump can think of nothing else. If the leader of the free world is distracted, the leader of the UK is... well, to be decided/Andy Burnham following Keir Starmer's resignation. There’s sexism live from the ITV kitchen, Hannah's found some elderl...