Standard Issue Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Diane Page on whether the rainbow is enuf Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

A hugely important work when it first ran on Broadway, it’s taken 50 years for Ntozake Shange’s seminal choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf to get a major revival in the UK. Overseeing that is director Diane Page, who’s brought it to The Yard Theatre, Hackney, for its grand reopening.

Jen catches up with Diane to find out more about the play, why it’s taken so long for the UK to pay attention, and whether or not black women are getting a fair deal when it comes to cultural recognition.

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A deeper look at Beryl Cook Sep 18, 2026

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Painter Beryl Cook divided the art world when she burst into the public consciousness in 1976. This year, she would have celebrated her 100th birthday, so Hannah grabbed some time with Hilary Bracegirdle, writer of new biography, Beryl Cook: Life and Art, and Teresa Cook, Beryl’s daughter-in-law, to find out more about the artist's life, work and legacy.

You can grab a copy of Beryl Cook: Life and Art here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beryl-Cook-Life-Hilary-Bracegirdle/dp/1805702629

Join the Standard Issue supporters' club here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon

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The Bush Telegraph: Influence and effluence Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

This week, Hannah and Jen are talking about a Hyrox horror, Carers UK's new report, unrest in the countryside, a drug hoping to stave off Alzheimer's, bad behaviour at Flushing Meadows (no pun intended) and, inevitably, Sydney Sweeney's tits.

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Flicking #77: Weapons Sep 15, 2026

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2025 was a big year for horror, with the genre not only having some big releases, but also taking home some big awards. Including an Oscar for Amy Madigan for her role in Zach Cregger’s supernatural mystery horror, about a community left questioning WTF is going on when all but one child from the same classroom disappears at exactly 2.17am, running into the night like demented penguins. Hannah, Yosra and Mick share their thoughts.

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Dr Siggie Cohen on being the parent Sep 14, 2026

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Many parents are moving away from the more authoritarian ideas of previous generations. But is it possible so-called “gentle parenting” has passed the point of being useful? Dr Siggie Cohen, a leading child development specialist, Instagram sensation, and author of new book You Are the Parent: Becoming the Calm Confident Leader Your Child Needs, thinks there is another way.

Jen chats to Dr Siggie about the concept of over-parenting, why it can be damaging to our kids, and why owning our own shit helps us to be better parents.

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Jane Hill has spunk in her eyes Sep 11, 2026

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September is Gynecological Cancers Awareness Month, so Hannah took the chance to catch up with our friend Jane Hill, a writer and comedian who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year. Jane’s Substack, Have You Got Somebody With You?, has been chronicling her experiences, so they chat about that, about planning for the worst, going through cancer "alone" and how she got that title for an Edinburgh show.

Jane's Substack is here: https://janehill64.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
Hannah's interview with Evie King is here: https://podfollow.com/standard-issue-podcast/episode/fb9ac3a165297d8617bb9dfe99f03588420dab7b/view
Find out more about The Eve Appeal here: https://eveappeal.org.uk/
Join the Standard Issue supporters club here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon

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The Bush Telegraph: News hullabalooboohoos Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Spider bites, violent pensioners, a Bill about dying that refuses to die, some appalling headline writing, and bonnes nouvelles de France – Mick and Hannah have braved this week’s news (and the garden), so you don’t have to.

Here’s Mick’s chat with Alessia Camoirano about Britain’s Forgotten Girls

Here’s Hannah’s chat with Professor Clare McGlynn about extreme pornography

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Alessia Camoirano uncovers Britain’s Forgotten Girls Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Across Britain, young girls from all demographics are being groomed, trafficked and sexually exploited by drug gangs. Authorities have been warned repeatedly about what’s happening to these girls, often known as ‘gift girls’, and yet the same failures continue.

In Britain’s Forgotten Girls, a documentary for BBC Current Affairs, director, producer and journalist Alessia Camoirano speaks to survivors, whistleblowers and those who raised the alarm, to investigate why horrific criminal and sexual exploitation has been allowed to continue for more than two decades. Mick got Alessia on the Zoom to find out more.

Britain’s Forgotten Girls airs on Wednesday 9 September at 9pm on BBC2, then again on Tuesday 15 September at 11pm, and on Thursday 17 September at 1.35am.

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Rated or Dated: Bandidas (2006) Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz star in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s "Western" "action" “comedy”, but what will the script by *eyeroll* Luc Besson have them do in this tale of two unlikely bank robbers? How empowering is wet brawling? How many times will Jen, Hannah and Mick say “tits” in this episode? And who on earth is this film for?

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Louisa Treger on Ruth Ellis’s Fatal Love Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in England, back in 1955, sparking public outcry and becoming a catalyst for huge change in the justice system. Like many, author Louisa Treger had always been fascinated by the story of Ellis’s life and death, which became the subject of her new novel, A Fatal Love.

Jen chats to Louisa about Ellis, how the justice system failed her and many other women besides, the media’s portrayals of domestic violence, and what we can learn from her story today.

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