Standard Issue Podcast

Mick and Jen are on Bush Telegraph duties this week and trying not to get seasick as they negotiate the choppy waters of the Seine, remaining buoyed by Flavor Flav’s unlikely appearance in a pool. Meanwhile, there may be tough times ahead for Rachel Reeves, horrors unfold on the streets of Southport, and one woman has tits galore right in her face.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...

Hannah's picked one of Jen's faves, so how's that going to pan out? This week, we're watching Ron Howard's comedy about raising kids, that comes with an all-star cast. Does Frank deserve redemption? Does Mickey like the change of pace for Rick Moranis? And is Dianne Wiest the best thing in it? Spoiler alert on that last one - she is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

London's East End has inspired hundreds of books, films, TV programmes and characters. Now, there's a new podcast dedicated to its history, courtesy of writer, actor, and broadcaster Sue Elliott-Nicholls and Immediate Theatre. The Hackney and Newham History Social Club tells stories of the lives of people from the two London boroughs, as well as many who travelled to London to make their lives the...

Susannah Walker is one of the co-founders of brilliant charity Make Space for Girls, which campaigns for parks and other public spaces to be as welcoming for teenage girls as they are for teenage boys. Because it has implications, not least the question ‘who do public spaces belong to?’ Spoiler: it ain’t women.  And so, in Susannah’s new book, The Hard Way: Discovering the Women Who Walked Before...

Isa Guha, former cricketer, member of England’s World Cup winning team, and the first South Asian player to represent the country in the sport, has carved out a successful role for herself as a presenter since she retired from the game. Now, through her charity Take Her Lead, she wants to help other young women and girls to get a foothold in the male-dominated arena. She chatted to Jen about the c...

Another roller coaster of a week, so strap in for the Bush Telegraph with Lembit Opik and ... no, away with you... with Hannah and Jen. This time they're talking about Hannah's new career as a freelance White House advisor and Jen's got Track & Trace PTSD. In Sexism of the Week, there's some horrifying figures on violence against women and in Jenny Off the Blocks, there's some questions about viol...

How many women in this week’s Rated or Dated? ZERO WOMEN. Must be a Mickey pick, eh? Correct. But what a pick: 2004’s rockumentary classic/accidental comedy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster from filmmakers Joe Berlinger and the late Bruce Sinofsky. And man, oh emotionally stunted man, does it raise a lot of questions about the human condition. And other questions, too. Such as, which Metallica did...

There are currently 82,000 children in care in the UK. What's life like for them and how will growing up in care go on to affect their lives? Hannah's been on the Zoom with Rebekah Pierre, editor of an excellent new book, Free Loaves on Fridays: The Care System As Told By People Who Actually Get It, to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Italian author Ilaria Bernardini is a big deal in her home country. And rightly so. Her latest novel in English, We Will Be Forest, was longlisted for Italy’s presitigious Strega Prize when it originally came out in 2018, and she’s received a tankload of plaudits for her works for the page and screen. In this episode, Mick’s chatting to Ilaria about the pain, hope and renewal of change, particular...

What’s this, not one but two older women with a lot to do? In the same film? There’s never been such times. Mick’s picked Nyad, the 2023 sports biopic from dream team Elizabeth Chai Vasarheluyi and Jimmy Chin about marathon swimmer Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim the 110 miles of open ocean from Cuba to Florida – in her 60s.  But will Hannah and Yosra enjoy this tale of endurance and hubris? And did...

Assassination attempts, conspiracy theories and a MAGA Prince Harry costume. How can Hannah and Mickey cram all the drama of the US election into one BT? Well, they give it their best shot, no pun intended.  And for Sexism of the Week, Mickey's been on the Zoom with journalist, broadcaster and author Terri White. Terri's podcast series, Finding Britain's Ghost Children, quite rightly scooped a who...

This week it's Jen’s pick, and for reasons not even she can explain, she's chosen James Cameron's 1994 Arnie-fest, True Lies. But is Cameron telling tales of tough women, or toxic entitlement? How has Hannah found common ground with a horse? And why does Mick look like she's been crying? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Artist Louise Bourgeois became a household name late on in her seven-decade long career, and is known best by many for her iconic spider sculptures. However, her body of work explores themes such as life cycles, nature, motherhood, and relationships. As part of its 20 Years of Compton Verney programme, the Warwickshire art gallery and stately home is showcasing Bourgeois’ work in a new exhibition ...

Best-selling crime author Lisa Jewell has written a book for Marvel. You heard us. So, our Hazel Davis got on the phone to find out more. They chat about Jessica Jones, killing off characters, a terrible first marriage, audiobooks, hoarding and a lot more besides. To hear the full interview, including Lisa talking about None Of This Is True, you can sign up to the Standard Issue membership scheme...

The Secret Garden was a childhood favourite of Anna Himali Howard and Holly Robinson - and our Hannah, too - so she leapt on the Zoom to talk about their new stage adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel. They talk about the themes of disability and India, as well as staging a play at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre during the Great British Summer - whatever the weather. Tickets are o...

Jen and Mick are on Bush Telegraph duties this week, and boy, oh boy, are they giddy with optimism after Labour’s landslide victory in the 2024 General Election. That's rhetorical. And yet, as new PM Keir Starmer rings the changes, some things stay the same – hello sexism. Not that any of it is stopping Jobby the parrot having a lovely time. Meanwhile in sport, we’re chatting Wimbledon and misogyn...

Hannah's been pretty upfront about how much she loved this film as a kid, but hang on, isn't it basically a musical about the rape of the Sabine women? Yes, yes, it is. But will the sheer toe-tapping nature of MGM's much-loved feast for the eyes, help Jen and Mick get over that terrible premise? No prizes for guessing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The statistics around domestic violence in the UK and beyond are horrifying – and have been for a long time. When playwright Martha Loader heard about schemes to rehabilitate the perpetrators of abuse, she was inspired to write what became the winner of the 2022 Bruntwood prize for playwriting, Bindweed, which is at London's Arcola Theatre from July 9-13. Jen spoke to Martha about the issues explo...

It’s been a while, but our resident music guru Liz Buckley is back. And she’s read Kathleen Hanna’s new autobiography, Rebel Girl. This has given her the perfect excuse to chat to our Mick about Hanna’s life and works so far, Bikini Kill and the band’s part in the riot grrrl movement that combined feminism, punk music, and politics, and why her gigs are great spaces for tits. Learn more about your...

A far cry from the glamour and wealth of the Premier League, Georgia Cloepfil spent her days travelling around the world in search of a career as a professional footballer. In her new book, The Striker and the Clock, she details the loneliness of that life, seeking a time-limited win that might never come. She caught up with Jen to talk about that, as well as issues that continue to surround the w...

It's Election Day! Finally! And it's also Independence Day, so in this week's BT, Hannah's been chatting to The Atlantic's Helen Lewis about what comes next for #TeamBiden after *that* Presidential Debate performance.  And in Jenny Off The Blocks, Jen's chatting about the fate of Reading FC's women's team, as well as Wimbledon, and the best ways to ensure women's sport is taken seriously.  Learn m...

What is Hannah’s timeline when it comes to someone she’s romantically involved with revealing they’re part fish? Just one of the big questions in this week’s Rated or Dated, as we go back to 1984 to watch Mick’s pick of Ron Howard’s Splash, a fish-out-of-water rom-com, in which Tom Hanks falls in love with Daryl Hannah as a mermaid. It also stars John Candy. Will that be enough to win Candy fan Je...

It can’t have escaped your attention there’s a general election happening in the UK this week. Polls show that 23 per cent of women are still undecided on how to vote, and when you look at where the political sphere is letting us down – healthcare, childcare, equal pay – it’s no surprise so many aren’t sure where to put their X.  The Fawcett Society knows a thing or two about what women need and i...

This year's Papatango Prize winner, Laura Waldren, joins Hannah to chat about her play Some Demon, which is set in a unit for people with eating disorders. They chat about Laura's own experiences with anorexia, the difficulties of telling stories with no clear beginning, middle and end, and how to get a first play staged in an increasingly tough market.   * You can see Some Demon at the Arcola unt...

June 23 was Women in Engineering Day, so Hannah got on the Zoom with Orlagh Costello, an engineer on a mission to get more women into the male-dominated industry. They talk about what puts women off, how we can change that and why if you're doing engineering with your penis, you're doing it wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices