Standard Issue Podcast

A fictional mystery without a solution masquerading as a true story is Australia's best film, you say? We do. Well, Hannah does anyway. But what does Mickey make of Peter Weir's dreamy boarding school drama/horror on a first watch?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah is happily child-free so she was glad to grab some time with author Helen Taylor to chat about her new book Childless By Choice, which is part memoir, part cultural history. They talk about "crazy cat ladies", societal pressure, misconceptions and the pressing question of who is going to look after us when we get old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a big one this week, as Mick and Hannah watch possibly the most cult of cult films: Richard O'Brien's stage show turned Jim Sharman's screen show, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. So many questions. Has there ever been a hotter Curry than Tim? How might the modern youth view it? Did Hannah sing along? And what's Mr Peanutbutter's favourite berry got to do with anything? We see you shiver with… you know. Mick mentions a couple of interesting articles, which you'll find here: https://www.them.us/story/yes-rocky-horror-picture-show-is-transphobic-transmisogynist And indeed here: https://www.bigissue.com/culture/theatre/rocky-horror-at-50-a-place-for-the-marginalised/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian and storyteller, actress and broadcasting star, Desiree Burch is also a perimenopausal woman with plenty to say about it. Mick got on the Zoom to talk about Desiree's new show, The Golden Wrath, as well as the ups, downs and big bag of goo that is a woman's midlife.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017, Zelda Perkins broke an NDA of more than 20 years to speak out against Harvey Weinstein. Since then, she's tirelessly campaigned to end the misuse and abuse of NDAS – non-disclosure agreements – used to silence victims. Her campaigning included setting up Can't Buy My Silence in 2021, and Mick chatted to her about that at the time.  Earlier this month, the Government announced it will ban NDAs designed to silence victims of workplace harassment and discrimination, a change that will be implemented through amendments to the Employment Rights Bill. A week later, the Lords passed it. This is a huge victory for Zelda – and the many brave people who have broken NDAs – after tireless campaigning, so obviously Mick got her back on the podcast to talk about the whats, whys, hows and what's next. For the full interview, get involved with our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/StandardIssue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Schumacher's sci-fi psychological horror exploring the boundaries between life, death and redemption was chock-a-block with early 1990s Hollywood's hottest property. But who gets redeemed and why? What happens when Bacon meets ham? And for the love of God, why won't someone turn on a light? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2024, alongside Steph McCall and Olympic athlete Rose Harvey, Natasha Edwards co-founded BOLDLI running club, a response to safety concerns around women runners. Now, BOLDLI provides resources to help women gain the confidence to run when and where they want, and this year they've teamed up with the Altra Kielder Marathon to launch the Stay Out There: She Runs Free initiative. Jen was tickled pink to catch up not only with Natasha but also with former world, European and Commonwealth champion, Paula Radcliffe – you heard us! – who is also backing the initiative. They're talking about why groups like BOLDLI are so needed, life after competitive running, and that time a bloke tried to catch up with Paula. You can find out more information about the Altra Kielder Marathon here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karis Kelly's award-winning play Consumed is about to tour the UK, so Hannah grabbed the chance to chat with the playwright about Northern Ireland in the arts, mother-daughter relationships, religion, superstition, OCD, trans-generational trauma, blood on stage and a lot more. Tickets for Consumed can be bought here:  https://painesplough.com/productions/consumed/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sally Gardner has had a long career of writing for children, for adults, and for everyone between. She chats to Hannah about her latest novel, The Bride Stone, growing up in London's Gray's Inn and about her belief that being dyslexic helped rather than hindered her writing career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready for our close ups? Maybe not, but tuck in anyway as we watch Gloria Swanson's glorious swansong in Billy Wilder's dark comedy about lost fame, madness and how to arrange a funeral for a chimpanzee.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adventurer, award-winning travel writer and Director of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Jean McNeil knows a lot about the world and our ever-more threadbare connection to it.  She chats to Mickey about her latest book, Latitudes: Encounters with a Changing Planet, a front-line witness account of the impact of climate change, and about her travels to and writing about remote, inhospitable places. Which started with being raised in one. And the fact Jean trained as a walking safari guide? Well, that's (big) catnip to our Mick.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During her career as a midwife, Dr Laura Abbott – now an associate professor in research at the University of Hertfordshire – became interested in the plight of women who gave birth in prison, or were separated from their babies by incarceration. And so she founded the Lost Mothers Project: a research project exploring the effects of mandatory separation of babies from women with Criminal Justice System involvement. As the Lost Mothers Project prepares to take its findings to Parliament, Jen chats to Laura about the vital work being done, an increased awareness of the England and Wales prison system for women, and why change needs to come now. You can find out more about the work of the Lost Mother's Project, including Scenes From Lost Mothers, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second series of crime drama Karen Pirie is about to arrive, so Hannah grabbed some time with its star Lauren Lyle to talk about why Karen's not like other detectives, but a lot like most women her age. They also chat about Toxic Town, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and women who "do". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starring Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd and a genuinely beautiful school building, Robert Zemeckis's time travel comedy blockbuster continues to be a cultural touchstone. At the time, it dazzled at the box office and with critics alike. But 40 years on, how does it fare with Mick, Hannah and Jen? Do the inevitable time travel plotholes matter? How much did the young Jen fancy the young Fox? Does Mick own this 1980s smash on DVD? And, perhaps most importantly, what in the Doc Brown is going on with Hannah's hair?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oddbody is Rose Keating's debut short story collection, an anthology of bold and unsettling tales inspired by her love of horror – and the genre's intersection with the female experience. In this episode, Jen gets inside the weird and wonderful mind of the Marian Keyes Young Writer Award winner, as she and Rose talk about how the body horror genre lends itself to the lived female experience, the inherent comedy of horror, and the horror (the horror!) of eggs. Oddbody is published by Canongate and is available now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Esther Freud first shot to fame with her debut novel, Hideous Kinky, back in 1992. Her tenth novel, My Sister and Other Lovers, reunites readers with sisters Lucy and Bea, and astutely captures the realities of being a sister and having a sister. Spoiler: as much as pop culture would like us to think it, a sister is not a built-in BFF.  Our Mick chats to Esther about sisters, siblings, parents, the slippery nature of memory, and love in its many forms. My Sister and Other Lovers is published by Bloomsbury and out now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Talalay's 1995 take on the much-loved comic series Tank Girl had so much promise, but does it live up to its "truly feminist" hype? Who gets to decide? And how will a jazz-loving kangaroo-man help or hinder these efforts? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah's joined by playwright Iman Qureshi and director Hannah Hauer-King to chat about their play about the members of a lesbian choir, The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs. They chat about disability on stage, the search for community, and joining a uniquely British genre. * The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs is on at the Kiln Theatre until July 12. You can find tickets here: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-ministry-of-lesbian-affairs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theatre maker Jess Andrews found herself exploring the murky world of dating apps after she and her husband decided to join the polyamorous community. The experience inspired her to create her one-woman show I Met All My Friends on Dating Apps, which is now touring. Jen chats to Jess about misconceptions around polyamory, why no one's having a great time on dating apps and how we might fix some of the problems within it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This animated sci-fi adventure, adapted from Peter Brown's much-loved books and written and directed by Chris Sanders, got a fair few Oscar nods, even if it missed out on an actual statue. But how will the tale of futuristic, task-oriented robot Roz, thrust into mothering gosling Brightbill amid the natural world's chaos, fare with Mick, Hannah and Yosra? And what's Bullseye got to do with it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there a conspiracy to stop us watching a feel-good film about pensioners? Who was younger than Hannah when it was filmed? Whose legs does Jen envy? How high are Mickey's socks? We answer all these questions and more as we watch Ron Howard's sci-fi comedy drama about old people fighting age with the help of aliens.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month's Outside The Box, Hannah and Jen are chatting about The Rehearsal, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Beth, The Better Sister and The Last Anniversary.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Announced as the new associate artistic director of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre back in November 2024, Tinuke Craig is keen to show just how broad the theatre's programming can be. A production of Noughts and Crosses, based on the Malorie Blackman young adult series, and directed by Tinuke kicks it all off. Jen chats to Tinuke about bringing Noughts and Crosses to the stage, giving young actors a break, and the wet panic of British Summertime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where John Hughes first dared to tread, many – so very many – teen movies have followed. Starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson as five VERY DIFFERENT American high school kids thrown together in Saturday detention for various misdemeanours, does the Gen X cult classic pass muster with Mick, Hannah and Jen? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An emergency caesarean brought journalist Hannah Marsh's first child into the world. Afterwards, she struggled to make sense of the events that had led to his traumatic birth and her intense feeling of shame for not having the “perfect” birth she'd envisioned. Hannah set about looking into the origins of procedure, which in turn led to her new book, Thread: A Caesarean Story of Myth, Magic and Medicine.  Jen chats with Hannah about the many misconceptions about the caesarean (including thinking of it as a relatively recent procedure), the pressure on women around birth choices, and why women are struggling to have the births they want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What makes a genius a genius? Do IQ tests teach us anything? Is a belief in genius right-wing coded? Hannah chats to journalist, author, broadcaster and Standard Issue fave Helen Lewis about her new book The Genius Myth, hero worship, eugenics, class and (braces) football. To hear the full interview or to listen ad-free you can:  * You can become a Standard Issue member here:  https://www.patreon.com/c/StandardIssue * Make a one-off payment here:  ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/StandardIssue⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adapted from his own novel, Inconceivable, Ben Elton's 2000 directorial debut is hard to track down these days. Should Jen ever have unearthed it? Has Elton written a convincing female character in Joely Richardson's baby-hungry Lucy? Is Hugh Laurie just dialling it in? What in the sweet fancy Moses is Emma Thompson doing? And can Hannah and Mick ever get over the trauma of watching it?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 2020, then-student Ella Lambert started The Pachamama Project, when she was just 20 herself. 500 million people worldwide experience period poverty, including 100 million girls who miss school every single month. The Pachamama Project creates and distributes reusable period products to vulnerable women, girls and people who have periods, including refugees, around the world.  Our Mick tried not to think about what she was doing when she was 20, and got Ella on the Zoom to talk more about the brilliant UK charity she founded and why its work is so important.  The Pachamama Project is always looking for people to get involved, by the way, so please do check out thepachamamaproject.org for info on how to do that.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Artist Kirstie McLeod founded the Red Dress project in 2009, as a platform for women in marginalised groups to share their stories. Sixteen years later, the collective embroidery project represents 380 embroiderers across 51 countries and is exhibited all over the world. Jen chats to Kirstie about the project, embroidery as a (perhaps) surprising medium through which to pioneer social justice, and the joy of putting needle to thread. The Red Dress is currently being exhibited at the Woven festival in Kirklees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh from her run in The Almeida's Rhinoceros, singer, composer, writer and actor Anoushka Lucas is back on stage in a revival of her one-way play Elephant. She chats to Hannah about why going back to it is a bit like reading an old diary, having a spectacularly successful side hustle and living in Russia. Tickets to Elephant at London's Menier Chocolate Factory can be bought here: https://www.menierchocolatefactory.com/tickets/elephant/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inclusion, exclusion, cervical wands, disallowed ads, sunk rescue deals, and three whole women: Jen and Mick cover the lot in this week's look at the news. Sexism of the Week uncovers a not so brave new world in how young men view women, and in JOTB there's a pride of Lionesses, and some excellent cycle team names. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens to characters when writers lose interest? They get a terrible film. Which is what The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is all about. Very meta. But does it avoid becoming a bad film itself? And since it's got Geoff Tipps, a surprisingly touching Herr Lipp plot, and Victoria Wood herself in it, do Mickey, Hannah and Jen even care? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate Muir's name might not ring any immediate bells, but her documentaries with Davina McCall about the perimenopause, menopause and HRT made quite the stir. And rightly so, given they busted myths around HRT that have been stopping women asking for it for decades. Mick got on the Zoom with the women's health campaigner, documentary maker, journalist and author to talk about the menopause movement, healthcare's reluctance to keep up, the ridiculous idea that middle age is boring, and Kate's latest book, How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former model Jess Davies started campaigning around image-based sexual abuse after her own experience of it, and the realisation that so many other women she knew had been through the same. Off the back of this came a string of documentaries, including Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next for BBC Three, and now a book, No One Wants to See Your Dick: A Handbook For Survival in the Digital World. Jen catches up with Jess to talk about how very common these problems are, the blurring of on and offline lives, and the ticking time bomb of Only Fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most terrifying dystopias are within touching distance of now. And so it is with Alex Garland's Civil War, in which he uses imagined journalists chasing a story in an imagined civil war in an imagined future America to explore topics that resonate very loudly in the real world today. It's a bleak, brutal and occasionally beautiful watch. But is it an important one? What's its point? How good is Kirsten Dunst?!? And is two times too many times to see it? Hannah, Yosra and Mick discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many kids is too many kids? Well, Boris Johnson and the UK Government are pretty divided on the issue. As well as covering the news of possible changes to the current two-child benefit cap, Hannah and Jen are talking about the horrific treatment of Nicola Packer, sexism and misogyny in the New South Wales police, and finally some good news about 20mph speed limits. Plus, there's joy for Charlton Athletic supporters, but sorrow for Mary Earps fans, in this week's Jenny Off The Blocks. You can listen to Mick's chat with Terri White about the two-child benefit cap here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A kids' film with genuine horror credentials? Don't Look Now's Nicolas Roeg directs Roald Dahl's 1983 tale of one boy (mouse) and his grandma versus a whole coven (convention) of child-killing witches. And by witches, we mean middle-aged women who don't meet society's arbitrary beauty standards and wear sensible shoes. WHAT COULD IT MEAN? Mick, Hannah and Jen investigate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed biographer Judith Mackrell makes a second visit to Standard Issue to chat about the Johns, a pair of siblings who went from an unhappy home in Wales to become two of the greatest British painters of the Edwardian period. She chats to Hannah about the very different but intertwined lives of Gwen and Augustus and why their work isn't always easy to find. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After leaving an abusive relationship, former GB Boxer turned entrepreneur Lesley Sackey found herself living in survival mode – until she realised some of the lessons she'd learned in the ring could prove useful in life. She went on to co-found Fight Forward, an initiative helping women to empower themselves after experiencing abuse, as well as the forthcoming AI-integrated platform Pillow, which aims to help women move forward after trauma.  Jen catches up with Lesley to talk about her career in boxing, how her own experiences of abuse informed Fight Forward, and why boxing can help women recover after trauma. You can find out more about Fight Forward, including signing up for sessions here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which Standard Issue presenter would survive an apocalypse? Just one of the many important questions Hannah and Mickey are asking in this week's Bush Telegraph. See also: Is America deporting legals? What next for Gaza? Why do the courts treat women so poorly? And what does any of this have to do with a Romanian model? So good job we no longer have to ask "what about China?". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan Parker's musical-drama exploded the careers of Irene Cara, Gene Anthony Ray and others, and – thanks to the hit TV series that followed – earned a reputation as a fluffy tale of leg warmers and sweatbands. But underneath the choreographed routines, will this warts-and-all depiction of life at the New York School of Performing Arts prove TOO MUCH for Jen and Mick? And what is a hot lunch, anyway? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an era where misinformation is rife and spreads at light speed, the role of experts in research is more critical than ever. And yet, historical underrepresentation and systemic biases have led to a lack of trust in research among women and marginalised groups. So how do researchers regain our trust? Why is inclusivity so important? And how can we all better engage in research to ensure it's more equitable and representative moving forward?  Mick put these questions to the excellent Dr Suze Kundu, nanochemist, science communicator and freelance journalist, and Research Community Engagement Consultant for NASA Science Explorer. That's right, NASA. And true to data nerd form, Suze had answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cariad Lloyd is an actor, comedian and writer (and one of our faves), who has been talking about grief since the death of her father when she was 15. She's turned her experiences into an award-winning podcast, Griefcast, and a bestselling book, You Are Not Alone. She's now written a children's book, Where Did She Go?, which aims to improve how we talk about death with children. Jen catches up with Cariad to chat about youngsters and grief, normalising those conversations, and fascinations with Nelson Mandela. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The big news is that someone has finally finished Mad Men, but if you're looking for some more recent TV, we've got that too. We chat about Poker Face, The Last of Us, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, Austin, The Four Seasons and Malpractice in our big round-up of the month's TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A film about racial tensions, police violence and disaffected youth? And this might be dated, you say? OK, probably not, but join us anyway as we talk about one of France's most well-respected films, why it's funnier than you'd imagine, and its breakout star Vincent Cassel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When writer and director Sara Harrak got back into 5-a-side as an adult, she became obsessed, which led to her short film, Solers United. Starring Leah Harvey as Bills, it follows the trials and tribulations of a grassroots women's and non-binary team fighting for survival. Jen chats to Sara and Leah about community, gentrification, taking up more space, and the legend that is Dame Kelly Holmes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist, author and life-long athlete Bonnie Tsui is fascinated by muscle: how it looks; what it does, and how we think about it. Her curiosity led her to the meat of her new book, On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters, which explores the world of muscle from five different perspectives: strength; form; action; flexibility, and endurance. Jen chats to Bonnie about the nature and narrative of muscle, perceptions around strength, and taking a look under the proverbial bonnet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should Labour be addressing immigration? Should men be mammographers? Does anyone fancy being imprisoned in the Jorvik Viking Centre? Jen and Hannah attempt to answer these and many other important questions in today's podcast. Plus, in Jenny Off The Blocks, we're talking about ACL injuries and good news for Charlton Athletic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ridley Scott's epic regeneration of the swords and sandals genre made megastars out of Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix and bagged a whole load of metal for the trophy cabinet, alongside a heap of box-office kerching. But 25 years on, does this tale of blood, brutality, bread, circuses and vengeance still thrill? Mick, Hannah and Jen share their thoughts. Unleash hell. Or just have a listen, your call.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feminist writer, campaigner, and one of Standard Issue's firm favourites, Laura Bates's latest non-fiction is called The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny. Anyone fretting about the good old age of sexism, fret ye not, because it is still alive and kicking and very much fuelling and influencing the new one. And it's impossible to stress enough how critical a moment right now is: this isn't futuristic, distant and improbable amplified version of the same old, same old, it's already affecting women and girls, and minority groups. Our Mick chats to Laura about that, about the sheer scale of what's happening, the regressive nature of breakneck “progress”, the problem with ‘outliers', and about how men's wants and wallets trump women's rights and safety every time.  The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny is published by Simon & Schuster on May 15, but available for pre-order now. laurabates.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's game, set and love matches in our Yosra's pick of 2024 films, as she, Mick and Hannah watch Luca Guadagnino's sweaty tale of rivalry on and off the courts. Starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist, it was a bit of a critics' darling and a box-office champ. But does that mean a flying sausage for our three women? Or will they take issue with the plot, the characters, the tennis, the depiction of women (woman), and the Golden Globe-winning score? Ooh, it's a mystery.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices