Standard Issue Podcast

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...

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 partic...

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. Host...

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.c...

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.a...

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 legen...

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 boo...

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 mo...

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 gett...

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....

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 driver...

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 p...

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...

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 Bl...

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...

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/standardissuespodca...

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...

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...

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 m...

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 N...

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...

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...

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....

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 direc...

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 Lou...