Standard Issue Podcast

The second film in Jim Henson’s much-beloved franchise, contemporary critics said 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper failed to live up to the expectations set by its predecessor, The Muppet Movie. But were those reviewers mad? Can it top Hannah’s love for The Muppet Christmas Carol? What has Jen’s daughter written in her notes? And what has Mickey got on her feet? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Set in Trinidad in 1956, Driftwood is the debut play of actress Martina Laird. She chats to Hannah about why Trinidad's history is England's history too, The Little Mermaid, and the night they sat really near each other in a theatre. * Driftwood is on at the Kiln Theatre in London. More here: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/driftwood/ * Details on how to become a member of the supporters' club here:  Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Roberto De Zerbi was made Spurs' new manager, his previous public support for player Mason Greenwood – who was in the past accused of various sexual assaults, although all charges were dropped – made the headlines. As a Spurs fan, journalist and broadcaster Kate Mason wrote about her take on this for The Athletic. She chats to Jen about how clubs deal with accusations of misconduct, the options legally available to them, alienation of female fans, and whether misogyny really is rife in the men’s game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor Liv Hill made her TV debut in the BBC’s remarkable Three Girls back in 2017, aged just 16. She’s currently playing Jane in Ava Pickett’s astonishing play 1536, in which three Tudor friends face the echoes of Ann Boleyn’s trial and beheading in their own rural lives. It’s a sharp and powerful portrayal of misogyny that also crackles with humour and the joy of female friendship. Mick chats to Liv about female friendships, trickle down politics, ugly choices, powerful roles, and playing a young Glenda Jackson.  1536 is at the Ambassadors in London’s West End until August 1. Visit theambassadorstheatre.co.uk for tickets. More of this chat? But of course: patreon.com/standardissue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thick as mince headlines, more body ‘correcting’ jabs, World Cup qualifying nonsense, online child sex abuse and women being harassed by drunk men on trains: no wonder British women are fuming. And yet, Mick and Jen are also bringing good news – some of it even relating to that long list of bleak.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would we want to live in a Utopia where everyone is killed at 30? Would we run? Would we dress like we were in Pan's People? Would we find wrinkles fascinating? Find out as we watch the classic dystopian sci-fi that begs these questions and many, many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actress and writer Sofia Barclay's love for the Bard shines through her book Shakespeare's Heartbeat: 40 Sonnets for Navigating Big Feelings. She talks to Hannah about big feelings, Desdemona, filming in a heatwave, Sam Rockwell playing a baby and Ted Lasso. * You can listen to Shakespeare's Heartbeat: 40 Sonnets for Navigating Big Feelings on Audible here * Find out more about the Standard Issue supporters' club here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An estimated one million under-18s in the UK help to look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition or drug and alcohol problems. Inspired by her experience of providing end-of-life care for her own mum, director Rosie Morris's short documentary Is Mum OK launches on The Guardian this week. In it, Rosie meets with some of Britain's young carers dealing with responsibilities far beyond their years. Jen chats to Rosie about the incredible young people in the film, recognising their achievements and their struggles, and combating the shame that comes from caring as, or being cared for by, a child. The Carer’s Trust provides help and support for carers. You can find out more by visiting their website: https://carers.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like women all over the world, writer and director Rebecca Lenkiewicz found herself in a state of disbelief, horror and rage when the naming of huge numbers of well-known, powerful associates of convicted child sex offender Jeffry Epstein, failed to trigger any meaningful legal action. Wanting to recognise the Epstein victims, and to give women feeling this collective pain a voice, Rebecca invited writers to join her in creating All The Rage: A Theatrical Response to the Epstein Files. Jen chats to Rebecca, along with writer and producer Anoushka Warden, about the production, the endemic nature of male sexual violence against women and girls, and the rage women feel as we grapple with our treatment within modern society. All The Rage is showing at London's Theatre Deli from June 11-13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are fans rioting when they won? Is a degree as worthwhile as it used to be? How badly are some pregnant women treated in maternity wards? Where is London's newest museum? And who has just become one of the highest paid female athletes in the world? This week, Hannah and Jen have all the answers. And yet, somehow, still have more questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it a bird, is it a fish, is it a pig, or is it swinging on a star? Turns out, Michael Lehmann’s Bruce Willis vehicle is everything and nothing much at once. But the film that famously blew its budget, bombed at the box office and got savaged by critics is having a renaissance. WHY, ask Mick, Hannah and Jen? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fewer and fewer woman now identify as straight. Why? Well that's what Phoebe Maltz Bovy's new book The Last Straight Woman sets out to discover. She chats to Hannah about how trends, empathy for LGBT people, a rejection of gender roles, bad PR for men and porn may all be playing their part.  You can buy The Last Straight Woman here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-last-straight-woman/phoebe-maltz-bovy/9780771013027 You can join the Standard Issue members club here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over on Instagram, Alex Light is a rare voice of sanity amid the relentless madness that is beauty standards for women and girls. Her new book, The Price of Pretty, examines the crushing beauty standards women are subjected to – and how we can learn to fight back.  Mick chats to Alex about finding compassion for ourselves and other women in how we navigate these toxic waters, whether we choose to opt in, try to opt out, or just want to see change for the young girls growing up in a system that’s rigged against us. The Price of Pretty: How toxic beauty standards are bringing women down and how we can fight back is published by HQ and out now. And you can follow Alex on Instagram at @alexlight_ldn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Much older men have dated much younger women since time immemorial, but should it feel inappropriate when the younger women in question are over the age of consent, but not yet 18? Dating educator, social worker, and podcaster Lalala Let Me Explain wants to end the “unwise but not illegal” defence used by grown adults entering relationships with young people who are above the age of consent but not yet eligible to vote. Having joined forces with campaigner Poppy Mason to launch Close the Consent Gap, a campaign aimed at making such relationships illegal, she chats to Jen about it, and the harm that such power imbalances can cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a little tour of the devolved Governments (where Wales comes out a lot better than Scotland, if we're honest), and for a look at one of the worst rulings in an English court in a long time. Bring a Chris or a talking animal, or indeed anything but a woman over 60. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who do we forgive in times of war? Louis de Bernières’ 1994 novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, has some suggestions, but are they the same as John Madden’s 2001 imagining of it? Still, never mind the morals, what about the accents? And can Nicolas Cage ever laugh like a normal person? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Waiting On A Friend, the debut novel of journalist Natalie Adler, is set in the crucible of the early years of the AIDS crisis in New York. Natalie chats to Hannah about what inspired her to write it, a lost generation, and Old "affordable" New York. * Waiting on a Friend is available to buy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/waiting-on-a-friend/natalie-adler/9781529439052 To find out more about supporting Standard Issue click here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want some TV recommendations? Yeah, you do. This month we're chatting about Legends, Ponies, Widow's Bay and Believe Me, as well as some good and bad news about what's still to come this year, plus what should probably never have been on the telly in the first place.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Number 5 is alive! Or is he? This week, Hannah and Jen talk about the family-friendly sci-fi comedy, its inappropriate casting and why the love interests have the same haircut.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Search for Water: A Human History of Thirst is an expansive and important new book from journalist and anthropologist Virginia Mendoza. Part-memoir and part-history, Virginia weaves personal reflection and her memories of growing up in La Mancha – the driest region in Europe – with a meticulously researched anthropological exploration of how water – both too little and too much – has shaped our species.  Mick chats with Virginia about water and how it connects us to our oldest ancestors, from where we were all born in Africa to migration, from myth-making and religion to what our relationship with water means today. English isn’t Virginia’s first language so a heads up that she pronounces drought “druth” the first couple of times she says it.  The Search for Water: A Human History of Thirst is translated into English by Thomas Bunstead, published by Pushkin and out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inspired by her own experiences of autoimmune diseases, writer Gillian Best decided to delve deeper into the topic of pain. Her book, Chronic: Understanding Pain, explores what pain is, how to treat it, and the research being done to improve the lives of the 1.5billion people across the world living with chronic pain.  Jen chats to Gillian about chronic pain, how to navigate it, its impact on women, and why it’s more than a medical issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Coogler’s much glazed box-office smash is Yosra’s pick this month. It’s a vampire horror about life and times in the Jim Crow South with a banging Blues soundtrack and a lot to say about cultural appropriation, colonialism and the Black experience. Does its midway handbrake turn work or is it too reminiscent of a film Mick and Hannah would rather forget? Do the not one but two Michael B Jordans bring out the actor’s best? Is Jack O’Connell under control? And could we love Wunmi Mosaku any more? Find out.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Labour suffering huge losses in last week’s local elections, Hannah and Jen look at the wholesale batshittery of the reaction to it, from the party itself and the media, as well as misinformation and the women (allegedly) begging Nigel Farage to “save them”. Thank God for the nuns, and the slightly safer territory of end-of-season football and tennis’s clay season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take off all your clothes and climb into bed with your female pal, as David Lynch’s twisty neo-noir nightmare-dream that tickles the seedy underbelly of Hollywood gets Rated or Dated. Join Mick, Hannah and Jen, as they ask questions, such as ‘what the fuck is happening?’, ‘who cares?’ and ‘WHY?’ about a film some regard as one of the greatest movies of the 21st century. Is that a dolphin? What’s in this Twinkie? WHO CARES. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Clare McGlynn is fighting the good fight when it comes to tackling the growing harms of extreme porn. She chats to Hannah about her new book, Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back, not being cool with the kids and how we're all having worse sex because of porn, whether we watch it or not. * You can buy Clare's book here * More info on ad-free listening and bonus content here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The family courts in England and Wales are going through some changes. In particular, a move to a 'child-focused' approach – designed to minimise trauma and cut a huge backlog of cases. But what does that really mean? Weren’t the family courts already child-focused? And will the changes really help victims of domestic abuse? Jen got on the Zoom with Laura Naser, award-winning partner in family law at Penningtons Manches Cooper, and author of The Family Lawyer’s Guide to Separation and Divorce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Jackson, Deputy Head of Travel at the Times and the Sunday Times, joins Hannah to talk about the very many questions facing us all right now when it comes to booking a holiday. Where is safe to visit? How are the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East affecting long-haul flights? Should we boycott America? What are the new rules at EU borders? Are anti-tourism protests in Europe here to stay? And are the price of jet fuel and mass cancellations by airlines going to make travel unaffordable? Plus there's some important, but maybe surprising, news about the expiry date on your passport.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nineties Baywatch babe (don’t call her that) Pamela Anderson was ridiculed for her part in David Hogan’s adaptation of Dark Horse Comics’ Barb Wire. But was she unfairly scapegoated for the resulting box office flop? Does it have any feminist credentials? And will Hannah be as delighted as Jen by its unlikely holy matrimony of Diagnosis Murder and Shortland Street? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aged 38, journalist Rose Stokes felt not quite right, in fact, she felt not at all well. Doctors quickly dismissed her concerns as either exhaustion from the demands of her two young children, or – classic! – perimenopause, and it wasn’t until a blood test found Rose to be iron deficient that it all began to make sense. When Rose wrote about her experience for the Guardian, she was inundated with messages from other women who’d felt similarly dismissed. Jen chats to Rose about her experience, why iron deficiency is a feminist issue, and why the growing conversation around perimenopause might now be tipping the balance when it comes to addressing women’s health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr Paula Bartley is a women’s historian and author of the new book, Trailblazers: The First Women Elected to Government, in which she uncovers some incredible stories about extraordinary women. She’s chatting to Mick about the (roller coaster) rise of women in global government, the boon of war and revolution when it comes to political equality, and a really impressive nun. Trailblazers is published by Polity on May 8, but available for pre-order now.  Tickets for the launch event at Church of Saint Magnus-the-Martyr, London, on May 27 are available here. As ever, there’s more chat available for our £5 and above patreons, so if you’re not already involved visit patreon.com/standardissue to find out more. We’ve a free trial period, if that tickles your pickle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Barton, a Southport-based care home owner who preyed on wealthy, elderly residents to fund a lavish lifestyle, was jailed for 21 years in 2018. In today's podcast, Hannah chats to Kate Snell about her new book, The Care Home Swindler, which recounts Barton's case, and why, at a time where we don't always respect the elderly, it remains important. Kate's book is available to buy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-care-home-swindler/kate-snell/9781408723425 More about supporting Standard Issue here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the thought of a rapist having his cock mangled by very sharp plastic teeth is your thing, have we got news for you. We have! In fact, Mick and Jen have got not one, but two positive stories about rape for you this week. Albeit served with a shit sorbet of some truly horrible stats around domestic violence and suicide.  In SOTW, Mick (49-year-old mother of none) is choosing not to judge Cameron Diaz and inviting you to join her, while in JOTB, Jen’s chatting darts, swooning at Allyson Felix and sharing the most Trumpesque demand not to be made by Trump. Rape Crisis has a 24-hour support line: 0808 500 2222 or online https://247sexualabusesupport.org.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ultimate in age-defying relationships turns 55 this year, but how has Hal Ashby's black comedy aged? Starring everybody's favourite manic pixie dream sex pensioner, Ruth Gordon, and soundtracked by the then Cat Stevens - what's not to like? Right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Sudi Pigott has spent nearly three decades writing about food and travel. In her new book, Consider the Anchovy: a Journey in Pursuit of the Little Fish With the Big Flavour, she pays homage to one of her favourite ingredients, albeit one she thinks is in need of a rebrand. Jen chats to Sudi about why we should consider the anchovy, 'foodie' culture for the masses, and who inspires her when it comes to cooking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When back in 2014, the Guardian published Hilary Mantel’s short story The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, it sparked intense controversy. Critics called it a "distasteful fantasy" and "dangerous nonsense”, while others, our Mickey included, would argue that actually it’s a smart, creative exploration of a polarised political era from a literary heavyweight.  It’s also now a play, with Mantel’s short story in the safe hands of playwright Alexandra Wood. As if that wasn’t enough for Mick to want to get Alex on the Zoom, it’s opening in Liverpool, famously a bastion of anti-Thatcher sentiment.  They’re chatting the brilliance of Mantel, alternative pasts and futures, Maggie’s legacy and political violence.  The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher opens at the Liverpool Everyman on Saturday 2 May and runs until May 23. Tickets and more info available from everymanplayhouse.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking for some TV suggestions? We have some. So that worked out well. Join us as we chat about Deadloch, The Pitt, Scarpetta, Euphoria, Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, Secret Garden, The Dinosaurs, Babies and Bait. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's Jen got in common with some pensioners in Barnet? Find out in this week's BT as she and Hannah talk about women's health, some bad news for women and girls in Myanmar, the "womanosphere", running marathons while pregnant and throwing some moves while middle aged or elderly.  You can read the Standard Issue Substack here: https://standardissuepodcast.substack.com/ The Government's Women's Health Strategy is here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69df5d7261d2e8e9b9e42d2e/renewed-womens-health-strategy-for-england-web-accessible.pdf More about the Pachamama Project here: https://www.thepachamamaproject.org/ Find out more about Hotsy Totsy's family raves here:  https://hotsytotsyraves.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Boorman’s epic thesp fest was a big hit at the box office and a surprise watch in the Dunleavy household. The cast list is impressive. The lighting is dark. The dialogue is as clanking as the shiny armour. And the laughs come thick, fast and mostly not on purpose. Did Mick, Hannah and Jen have a good time with all the thrusting, grunting, Arthurian legend and whole load of unexpected Geoff Tipps? And does the answer to that mean it’s a good film? Find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A space mission that passed the Bechdel test? There’s never been such times! Mick needed no further prompting to get NASA’s finest, Dr Suze Kundu, on the Zoom to chat about bright spot amid the gloom: Artemis II. And not content with that being a feel-good story for the ages, Suze came armed with some other women-centred tales of joy in STEM.  As ever, there’s extra chat for our £5 patreons. And so if you want to know a bit more on how positive this mission has been for women in STEM, learn what’s next for Artemis and hear Suze crying at Carroll the lunar crater, visit patreon.com/standardissue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After being raised by parents with addictions, professor of psychology at Maynooth University, Katriona O’Sullivan turned her experiences into bestselling non-fiction book Poor. Her follow-up, Hungry: A Biography of My Body, explores how poverty, and the sexual abuse she endured as a child, have shaped her relationship with her body. Jen chats to Katriona about the vulnerability of neglected children and the adults they grow up to be, and the harm caused by society’s obsession with women shrinking themselves. Help and support is available for survivors of all types of childhood abuse, via the National Association for People Abused in Childhood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shih-Ching Tsou’s debut feature film caused a stir at Cannes, and tickled many a reviewer’s pickle, but flew under the radar when it landed on Netflix last November. A shame for many reasons, not least because it’s by a woman about women, as the iPhone camera tracks single mum Shu-Fen, and her two daughters – five-year-old I-Jing and university-aged I-Ann – as they try to make a fresh start in their home city of Taipei. What will Yosra and Hannah make of this refreshingly wang-light pick from Mick? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything is totally normal in America, right? This week, special guest Helen Lewis stops by to talk to Hannah about Trump's war, Hegseth's row with the Pope, AI doom-mongering, the US at 250, and other assorted insanity. Who you gonna call? No really, who? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan’s teen musical comedy gave a well-deserved ribbing to the advertising and music execs of the early ‘00s, as well as teen culture in general. But at what point does this satire become part of the problem? Shall we ask Tara Reid? And what were they putting in Sunny Delight in the late ‘90s? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fascinating story of Elizabeth Allen takes us from East London to a remote woodland cabin, to Hollywood and back, before settling in Coventry, where Compton Verney is exhibiting the artist’s absurd, funny and boldly prophetic work 60 years after her debut. Jen catches up with Ila Colley, Compton Verney’s curator of folk art and the exhibition, Troublemakers and Prophets: Elizabeth Allen and Other Visionary Artists, to chat about Allen’s extraordinary life and work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new adaptation of Virginia Woolf's The Waves opens at London's Jermyn Street Theatre next week. Hannah chats to playwright Flora Wilson Brown about the appeal of Woolf to young people, the issues with adapting her work and the loss of “scenes” in the modern world. Grab yourself a ticket here: https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/the-waves/ Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s fair to say author, Scummy Mummy and self-proclaimed running nerd Helen Thorn has dealt with some pretty hefty shit in the last few years. Her new book, How to face big change and come back stronger, is a hopeful, comforting, funny look at how to navigate some of life’s biggest challenges: change, grief and loss of self. It’s packed with practical wisdom from a plethora of women who have walked the walk.  Mick caught up with Helen to talk endurance, navigating life looking very different, growth, ditching bad habits, and – of course – lasagne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Surgeon Ian Paterson was jailed in 2017 for conducting botched and often unnecessary operations on his patients, who were predominantly women. Hannah chats to Deborah Douglas and Tracy King about their new book, The Cost of Trust: The Butcher Surgeon and the Scandal that Shamed British Medicine, their experiences of being "cared for" by Paterson and the battle to ensure it can't happen again. This episode contains some pretty graphic descriptions of surgery You can buy The Cost of Trust here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-cost-of-trust/deborah-douglas/tracy-king/9780008712938 To hear the full interview, join the Patreon supporter gang here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What could go wrong in an unregulated fertility clinic, asks our Jen while discussing a BBC report on families seeking fertility treatment in Northern Cyprus. Mick has better news about guidance aimed at making public spaces safer for women and girls, and there's a glimmer of hope from the Middle East. Elsewhere, the Daily Mail invites us to play a Guess Who? of “bodycounts” in SOTW, and there’s some uplifting news in Jenny Off The Blocks about sports science for female athletes, and the upcoming Women’s FA Cup quarter-finals. Donate to the British Red Cross’s Gaza Crisis Appeal here. You can find out more about the University of Portsmouth’s research group in breast health here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it the Devil's work to run on a Sunday? Who's even heard of Cambridge University? And who will win a mini-break with Nigel Havers? Find out the answers to these and many more questions as we watch the classic '80s Oscar (and God) botherer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist, writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed is a busy woman. Through the Square Window, her new(ish) podcast with Graham Kibble-White guides listeners through UK TV of decades gone by. It’s nostalgia with a keen critical eye, examining what TV reflected about and indeed brought to British culture. With telly very much still at the forefront, Samira’s also penned the forthcoming BFI Film Classics volume on 1964 Beatles’ movie A Hard Day’s Night. She chats to Mick about TV, its role in our daily life, how her mum taught men to cook, and what the telly can tell us about a social moment. And of course, the Fab Four’s first film and what makes it such a great ride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices