Standard Issue Podcast

Sideways might be regarded as one of the best films of the century, but is it just two middle-aged men on a drunken road trip? Let's find out... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning poet Vanessa Kisuule is, in her own words, “a recovering Michael Jackson obsessive”. Yeah, that’s a tricky one to negotiate. Fame and all of its disciples are at the heart of Vanessa’s debut non-fiction (non-poetry), Neverland: the Pleasures and Perils of Fandom, in which she explores the fan/celebrity relationship, the big feelings when someone we love – famous or not – falls from g...

When journalist Marina Gerner heard about a potentially life-changing innovation in heart health for women, she was keen to spread the word. But why were none of her usual editors interested in this “niche” subject area? In her new book, The Vagina Business: The Innovative Breakthroughs that Could Change Everything in Women’s Health, Marina takes us through the new technology that could make women...

Hannah and Mick have looked at the news, had a big scream and are now ready to talk to you about Ticketmaster chaos, the ‘duty of candour’ law and why it’s a no-brainer to apply it to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and why just because Peter Boghossian hasn’t heard feminists talking about Afghanistan doesn’t mean feminists aren’t talking about Afghanistan.  There’s also a teeny-tiny police cordon, an...

PJ Hogan’s 1994 classic, Muriel’s Wedding, launched his own career, as well as those of Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths. But has Jen misremembered the Aussie comedy as a “feel-good” movie? Is Muriel/Marial/Muriel a likeable protagonist? And will Mick and Hannah ever stop laughing about an unzipped beanbag? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Reah Bravo encountered sexual misconduct at the hands of a former employer during her time as a broadcast journalist, she was surprised by the way she handled it. As, she discovered, were many other women in similar situations. As Reah questioned the impact of the #MeToo movement, she set about examining the ways in which women are socially conditioned to not just tolerate abuse but even prop...

We often talk about how social media is radicalising men and boys, but it absolutely happens to women and girls, too. In a new BBC3 documentary, America's New Female Right, Layla Wright heads to the US to find out why so many young women are advocating against their own interests. She chats to Hannah about domineering dads, the church, the thrill of clicks, going down a right-wing wormhole and wor...

Who doesn’t love a good night’s sleep? And yet, 40% of us in the UK struggle with some sort of sleep issue. And yes, you guessed it, it affects women more than men.  Sunday marks the start of Sleeptember, so Mick grabbed the opportunity to get Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, on the Zoom to talk about those all-important zeds – and why we’ve become so bad at getting them. Learn more ab...

It's Bush Telegraph time again and this week Hannah and Mickey are covering perhaps the widest range of topics ever: Oasis, menstrual blood, coercive control and cutting a whale's head off with a chainsaw. You are welcome. And in Sexism of the Week, Mickey's looking at how life is worsening for women in Afghanistan. We didn't say it was cheery. But it does need talking about. Learn more about your...

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy x2 star in this satirical comedy from 1999, which is a firm favourite of both Hannah and Mick. Pressure. Which Eddie Murphy will steal the show? Will Heather Graham out Heather Graham herself? Will Hannah be able to stop watching the same three minutes of the film to watch all the film? Why is Mick practicing her kung-fu moves? Can Hannah get down from that mid-height...

Adjusting to life on the outside is, for a lot of prisoners, very hard. But there's a wealth of advice on hand from the Life After Prison podcast and in this episode, Hannah chats to one of its co-hosts, Jules Rowan. They talk about what prison is for, who should and shouldn't be sent there, and how Jules has been using her experiences "inside" to help others navigate theirs.  Learn more about you...

Tissues at the ready, because Yosra's picked a surprisingly dark Marvel film for this month's Flicking. The final outing for James Gunn's ragtag family of heroes led by Chris Pratt's Peter Quill puts half its focus on Rocket's (hellish, heartbreaking) backstory and the other on saving a Guardian in mortal peril. But does it have enough of its usual irreverent swagger to charm Guardians fan Hannah?...

Hannah and Mick are finding glimmers of good in the bad news this week, as they celebrate the brave women seeking justice in cases involving sexsomnia (sure, yer Honour) and, separately, mesh complications. And what’s that? Extreme misogyny being recognised by the Government as an ideology dangerous to women and girls? There have never been such times. Like, literally; it’s a new dawn and we’re gl...

Is Wikus a hero, a villain or neither? Is Mickey over her aversion to gore? Does Hannah do a decent Johannesburg accent? Find out in this week's Rated or Dated, as we watch 2009's District 9.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of her work as CEO of Girls for a Change, Angela Patton was faced with girls in her community who desperately wanted to spend quality time with their fathers. But in this case, the girls’ fathers were in jail, in a system that increasingly prevented contact time with loved ones. Not one to be phased by a challenge, Angela pioneered the highly successful programme, Date with Dad, which prov...

So much sport, has there even been any time to watch telly? Of course there has. This month, Hannah, Mickey and Jen are talking about Simon Biles Rising, The Bear, Those About to Die, Slip, The Lady in the Lake, High Country, The Jetty and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Jen's joined by Hannah to chat about the carnival of sporting achievement that was Paris 2024. They're chatting about gender parity, Team GB winners, Raygun, whether the 100m is over-rated, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and what the hell is Hannah talking about when she says "I've been watching the running up the wall." Plus, if you now feel like watching more sport, Jen's going to tell you...

It’s a bona-fide classic in the Rated or Dated chair this week, as Hannah and Mick watch Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins for the umpteenth time and Jen comes at it fresh. Well, as fresh as someone with a four-year-old can be.  The songs are bangers, the plot’s ridiculous and surely no one’s comfortable with being told how amazing they are all of the time. And it raises all sorts of questions, althou...

Writer, performer and comedian Bryony Byrne loved playing football at primary school. So why can’t she remember any footballers post 1998? She explores this, as well as gender stereotypes, and female rage, through the spirit guidance of Eric Cantona in her Edinburgh show, Fan/Girl. Jen chatted to Bryony about the '90s, ladette culture, and falling back in love with football through Charlton Athlet...

Anna Maria della Pieta. Chances are you’ve heard of Antonio Vivaldi, but you’ve never heard of Anna Maria or her fellow female orphans at the Ospedale della Pieta, which in 18th century Venice boasted the greatest orchestra in the world. Without these ridiculously talented girls and women, The Four Seasons might not exist.  Harriet Constable’s debut historical fiction, The Instrumentalist, is the...

Here at Standard Issue, we love the Olympics - because who doesn't? But we especially love the modern pentathlon, which got underway at this summer's Games on August 8 and continues until the final day of the Olympics on Sunday 11. Jen had the joy of chatting to Team GB modern pentathlete Kerenza Bryson just before she headed out to Paris. Kerenza’s hoping to add an Olympic medal to her haul from...

This week it’s Jen’s pick, ably assisted by Mick, who suggested 1984’s Rocky for kids, The Karate Kid. Why was she was so keen to rewatch that, we wonder. In unrelated news, how will Mick’s crush on Ralph Macchio have dated? How many times can she talk about The Karate Kid Part II? And how will this seminal film of Noonan's youth fare with Balboa fans, Jen and Hannah?  Learn more about your ad cho...

Twenty-five years after making the final of So You Think You're Funny, Juliet Cowan has taken her first show to the Edinburgh Fringe. She talks to Hannah about taking the estrogen goggles off, the rashness of perimenopause, returning to comedy, and her successful acting career, which has included roles in This Life, Back To Life, Back to Black and Pulling.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

US comedian Anna Akana’s tagline might as well be ‘hello darkness my old friend’, because she travels into some pretty dark places for her comedy. This included talking about the stalker who hounded her so much she gave up standup for years, her sister’s suicide 17 years ago, and that time her dad ran off to fight in Ukraine.  In this episode, she chats to our Mick about making that shit funny, he...

Actor, playwright and civil celebrant Amy Conway's new one-woman show Catafalque opened at the Fringe last week and is soon to head off on a short tour of Scotland. In today's podcast, she's chatting to Hannah about funerals during Covid, the dilemmas celebrants can face and what it was like to write her own eulogy.  Tickets for Catafalque at Summerhall are here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats...