Standard Issue Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Rated or Dated: Brokeback Mountain (2005) Sep 10, 2025

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The "gay cowboy movie" certainly opened the door for a lot of other films, but how does it fare 20 years later? Hankies at the ready as we take another look at the small story, big landscape romance that was robbed at the Oscars. Don't @ us.

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Witch? Refugee? Tragic hero? Natalie Haynes talks Medea Sep 09, 2025

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The story of Medea has been popular since antiquity and continues to endure today. Not least because big names want what’s undoubtedly one of the meatiest female roles in theatre. Meatiest in its most gruesome sense, as Medea is most famous for killing her children in order to get revenge on her faithless husband.

Or at least that’s the headlines. It is, of course, more complicated (if no less horrifying) than that, so our Mick was delighted that author, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes’ latest novel, No Friend to This House, is her take on the Medea story.

They talk Medea as witch and midwife, Medea as refugee, the power of love, the dangers of motherhood and why Medea has proven so endlessly fascinating to storytellers and story listeners alike.

No Friend to This House is published by Mantle on Thursday 11 September, but available for pre-order now. And you can find out where near you Natalie is touring by following her on X @officialnhaynes and on Insta @nataliehaynesauthor.

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Dr Ingrid Clayton on the fourth "F" of trauma Sep 08, 2025

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It took clinical psychologist, trauma therapist and complex trauma survivor Dr Ingrid Clayton years to understand how she had reacted to abuse within her home as a young person. But what she later understood to be a relational-trauma response known as “fawning” also helped her to make sense of her behaviour and relationships in the years that followed. And now that work informs her book, Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves.

Jen chats to Ingrid about why we sometimes lean into situations that make us feel unsafe, the long-term impacts of this behaviour, and why we should revisit the narrative around trauma responses.

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Flicking #65: Better Man Sep 05, 2025

Show notes

It’s Robbie Williams, but he’s a chimp! But is there anything more to Michael Gracey’s biopic jukebox musical drama about the British pop phenomenon? Are there any facts in it? And will you look at that cast: Steve Pemberton! Alison Steadman! Damon Herriman! Jonno Davies (who? what?). It’s (oddly) Hannah’s pick, (poor?) Yosra’s second watch and (warning) may contain Mick singing.

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The Bush Telegraph: Back from the dead? Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

Returning from a BT hiatus, Mickey and Hannah take a rifle through some of the daftest stories of the week, including AI failures, ball pits, watered down beer, rumours of Trump's death and odd book choices. While in Sexism of The Week, it turns out everything has been fixed in our absence. Oh no wait, it hasn't. Shame.

Chloe's story about The Salt Path is here: http://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit

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Rated or Dated: Postcards from the Edge (1990) Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Is there anything Meryl Streep and/or Shirley MacLaine can’t do? It's a question we return to, as we settle down with Mike Nichol’s 1990 dramedy, based on Carrie Fisher’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. But to what extent is it based on Fisher’s real-life relationship with her mum, Debbie Reynolds? How well does it reflect issues around addiction? And, another question we return to: what is Roger Ebert even on about?

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Here come the (incredibly divisive) girls Sep 02, 2025

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A century after their birth, the Mitford Sisters continue to fascinate and appal in equal measure. As a new play about them, The Party Girls, opens at The Marlowe in Canterbury, Hannah chats to playwright Amy Rosenthal about why their stories still resonate, sisterhood and the frivolity of evil. Tickets for The Party Girls are here: https://showtours.co.uk/the-party-girls-tour-dates/

More info about becoming a Standard Issue supporter is here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon

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Jackie Morris and Tamsin Abbott are wild folk Aug 29, 2025

Show notes

Fairy tales have long been a source of life lessons and observations. Adding to that tradition and brimming with female power, Wild Folk: Tales From the Stones, by writer and illustrator Jackie Morris and stained glass artist Tamsin Abbott, is officially one of the most beautiful books in our Mick’s possession.

She chats with Jackie and Tamsin about the power of stories, the collaborative process, finding just the right sky and that aforementioned female power.

Wild Folk isn’t as easily available as it should be, but you can – and should – get it from www.sevenfables.co.uk.

Also, give Tamsin a follow @tamsintheshed and ditto Jackie @jackiemorrisartist, both on Instagram.

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Rated or Dated: Top Hat (1935) Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

Featuring a couple of bona fide bangers by Irving Berlin, this Fred and Ginger bonanza, in which misunderstandings, misidentification and miscommunication slows true love’s flow, was the pair’s most successful film. But will the ‘idiot plot’ be too frustrating for words? Can Mick deal with the sheer amount of tap dancing? Why is Hannah screaming and refusing to look at the screen? And what am “Venice”?

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Karen Dobres’ bitch invasion Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

In 2017, fashion model and counsellor-turned gender equality campaigner Karen Dobres, found herself on the board of her local football club Lewes FC, despite never having had an interest in the sport. But she discovered a passion for the women’s game and The Rooks made headlines as the first football club ever to pay its men’s and women’s team players equally. Her new book Pitch Invasion: My Story as a Feminist on a Football Club Board charts her time on the board.

Jen caught up with Karen to chat about the book, the thorny topic of equal pay in football, the power of the sport to change hearts, minds and culture, and why football matters.

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