Standard Issue Podcast

Mick and Jen are on news duty this week, talking cynical steps – or is it honourable intentions? – as social media companies try to get to grips with the Online Safety Act. Elsewhere, there are smiling faces aplenty outside Strangeways, as the Labour Government grapples with its inherited crumbling prison system. Thank the gods of whimsy that Paddington Bear is on hand to cheer us all up. Not Jen,...

Is The Last Seduction your average "bitches be crazy" film? Why no more roles for Linda Fiorentino? Can anyone bear that much jazz? The answers to these and many more questions lay within. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the success of last year's Ghost Stories by Candlelight tour, HighTide Theatre is back with a new production – More... Ghost Stories by Candlelight – showcasing four up-and-coming writers, including Eloise Pennycott. Jen chatted with the actor, writer and theatre maker about the production’s tour of the East of England - which is also showing at The Globe, starting on October 30 - as well as...

Life in plastic: is it fantastic… to watch? Greta Gerwig’s star-studded Barbie was one of THE big-hitters in cinema last year and, according to critics across the globe, wasn’t just pink and sparkly and fun, but came with a big ol' side of feminism. But did it, though? Did it? Hmmm. Mick, Hannah and Yosra will be the judge and jury of that.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...

Quadrophenia is a tale of young male angst and multiple wing mirrors, and is apparently the reason Jen's brother used to wear a cravat. But is it a case of style over substance? And is a game of "spot the young character actor" enough to keep us interested? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How long does it take to sink in that you've won the Edinburgh Comedy Award? That's one of the questions Hannah is putting to comedian Amy Gledhill, who scooped the big prize this year for her show Make Me Look Fit on the Poster. They chat about the difference between self-confidence and self-esteem, local news and a lot more. If you want to see Make Me Look Fit on the Poster, which is touring now...

Holloway women’s prison closed its doors in 2016, but the legacy left behind looms large for those who spent time there. As part of an exercise in healing, filmmakers Daisy-May Hudson and Sophie Compton took a group of six women who were imprisoned in Holloway back there. Their feature documentary Holloway, an examination of the criminal justice system in England and Wales, is the result. Jen caug...

If you find yourself with some hours to fill with telly, then let us help you make some good choices. This time, we're talking about Slow Horses, The Perfect Couple, Ludwig, Only Murders In The Building, Joan, Apples Never Fall, Kaos and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With MPs set to vote on a bill that puts forward proposals to give terminally ill people the right to end their lives, many of those who are against the bill worry about the lack of nuance put forward in debates. Actress and disability rights activist Liz Carr is one of those people. In this week’s Bush Telegraph, ahead of the bill’s introduction to parliament next week, Hannah chats to Liz about...

Mick’s picked one of her all-time favourites this week: 1979’s Life of Brian. And she’s not alone in loving this funny AF biting commentary about the danger of mass movements and the inherent weakness of any faith or ideology that eschews critical thinking, which still regularly tops ‘best comedy film’ lists.  But do Hannah and Jen feel the same? Does the Pythons controversial at the time satire s...

Musician Pauline Black is best known as the frontwoman of 2-tone band The Selecter, and wrote about her experiences in the band and life in her memoir Black by Design: A 2-Tone Memoir. On reading her book, filmmaker Jane Mingay was inspired to get in touch with Pauline and the result of their collaboration is the new documentary, Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story, which is showing at the London Film F...

Feminist, activist and best-selling author Laura Bates first came to attention as a fierce feminist voice 12 years ago when she started the Everyday Sexism Project. She’s since written a slew of brilliant, if enraging, non-fictions about how women and girls are treated, and quite rightly become a bona fide icon.  In this episode, she’s chatting to our Mick about the grim state of the world when it...

Actor, playwright and Essex girl Anne Odeke was thrilled when she learnt about little-known historical figure Princess Dinobolu, the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK. Her reimagining of what led the “princess” to take to the stage at Southend-On-Sea’s Kursaal back in 1908 forms the basis of Princess Essex, the play she wrote and is currently starring in at The Globe. Fello...

Mick and Jen are on Bush Telegraph duty this week, and turning the colour of a Gen Z bathroom suite as they look at what’s happening at the Conservative Party Conference. Mick’s been watching Panorama’s episode about the menopause industry and screaming BUT WHY into a pillow, while Jen’s reliving one of her best moments being holy watered by a vicar during the 2008 London Marathon. The Boss, Sarah...

Peter Jackson's 1994 fantasy/true crime/coming-of-age/period/romance/horror Heavenly Creatures gave Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey their first screen roles. Why was one an instant star and the other a much-delayed one? Can a man capture the intensity of teenage girls? Who, if anyone, is mad in this case? Find out the answers to these questions and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

Michelle Ovens MBE, founder of Small Business Britain and huge champion of female business owners, is a total powerhouse and inspiration. She’s chatting to our Mick about small businesses, where they’re at, what’s in store, why more women are starting them, and the work being done by Michelle and her team to make the word 'entrepreneur' way more diverse than tech bros and wannabe Alan Sugars.  You...

It's our birthday! So, here's a very special episode - a chat about the last decade with the boss herself, Sarah Millican. We're talking about what we've learned in the last 10 years, the time Mickey and Hannah got shut into a service station and the mystery meeting that only Jen remembers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Based on the much-lauded Nick Hornby classic, our Jen has picked filmic festival of football, Fever Pitch. But will protagonist and giant man-child Paul, played by Colin Firth, float Hannah or Jen’s boat? And what is the film trying to say, other than that women don’t like football? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having been involved in some of the country's most high-profile cases, lawyer and fearless campaigner for justice, Harriet Wistrich has some incredible stories to tell. Many of which are in her new memoir, Sister In Law. Hannnah chats to Harriet about the Stockwell shooting, Spycops, the media and Sally Challen, and asks if some of us are better built for legal battle.  Hannah's Spycops interview...

Best known as Coronation Street’s loveable matriarch, Eileen Grimshaw, Sue Cleaver is a woman of many talents. As well as treading the boards as Mother Superior in Sister Act the musical, she’s written a book - A Work In Progress. Part memoir, part manifesto, it champions women in midlife and beyond. Our Corrie fanatic, Jen, caught up with Sue to chat about the ways women can be put out to pasture...

Hannah’s picked Martin Scorsese’s take on the string of brutal murders of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation that took place in 1920s Oklahoma. It stars Robert de Niro (natch) and Leonardo DiCaprio (also natch) and features a brilliant performance from newcomer Lily Gladstone. But does it warrant the stonking three-and-a-half-hour run time? WTF is going on with Leo’s face? And will both Mick and Yosra m...

Hannah and Jen are on duty this week and, naturally, they’re wondering (like the rest of us) WTAF is “Britcore”? They’re also pondering the benefits of Brexit and, across the pond, just how many copies of his self-published book is a would-be Trump assassin likely to sell? The Boss, Sarah Millican, is back with some more Light Relief for our £5 and above Patreons, talking bad weather for (little)...

It’s a first time watch of Larry Kramer and Ken Russell’s erotically charged adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s 1920 novel for both Mick and Jen. Will they finally understand teenage Hannah’s obsession with Alan Bates? How many times can Mick sing Liberty X? And what’s (young) Olly Reed doing to Jen’s bloomers? Also contains – and no one was expecting this – that time David Blunkett was attacked by a c...

Slow Horses is back for a fourth series on Apple TV and Hannah's been on the Zoom with one of its stars, Saskia Reeves, to talk about the wonder of Catherine Standish, the odour of Jackson Lamb and how the series keeps on creating great roles for women over 50. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Mick and Jen are focusing on two stories gripping most women they know: the horrific mass rape case currently going through the French courts (and the astonishing bravery of Gisèle Pélicot), and the brutal murder of Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei. We’d apologise for it being so grim, but it’s hardly women’s fault, eh? For balance, there’s not only one but two slices of good news, a phenomen...