Standard Issue Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Bush Telegraph: Ordinary men, horrific crimes Sep 12, 2024

Show notes

This week, Mick and Jen are focusing on two stories gripping most women they know: the horrific mass rape case currently going through the French courts (and the astonishing bravery of Gisèle Pélicot), and the brutal murder of Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei. We’d apologise for it being so grim, but it’s hardly women’s fault, eh?

For balance, there’s not only one but two slices of good news, a phenomenal feat of athleticism, and an incredible Jean-Michel Jarre impression to enjoy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RoD Sideways (2004) Sep 10, 2024

Show notes

Sideways might be regarded as one of the best films of the century, but is it just two middle-aged men on a drunken road trip? Let's find out...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanessa Kisuule is in MJ recovery Sep 10, 2024

Show notes

Award-winning poet Vanessa Kisuule is, in her own words, “a recovering Michael Jackson obsessive”. Yeah, that’s a tricky one to negotiate. Fame and all of its disciples are at the heart of Vanessa’s debut non-fiction (non-poetry), Neverland: the Pleasures and Perils of Fandom, in which she explores the fan/celebrity relationship, the big feelings when someone we love – famous or not – falls from grace, and the problem with “monsters”. Our Mick got on the Zoom to find out more.

Neverland is published by Canongate on September 12.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marina Gerner’s Vagina Business Sep 09, 2024

Show notes

When journalist Marina Gerner heard about a potentially life-changing innovation in heart health for women, she was keen to spread the word. But why were none of her usual editors interested in this “niche” subject area? In her new book, The Vagina Business: The Innovative Breakthroughs that Could Change Everything in Women’s Health, Marina takes us through the new technology that could make women's lives infinitely better – and the reasons why many of these innovations are not getting the financial investment they need. In this episode, she chats to Jen about funding and research gaps in women’s health, BS in the boardroom, and that old chestnut: relatability.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bush Telegraph: Noasis, no-brainers, and bog off Boghossian Sep 05, 2024

Show notes

Hannah and Mick have looked at the news, had a big scream and are now ready to talk to you about Ticketmaster chaos, the ‘duty of candour’ law and why it’s a no-brainer to apply it to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and why just because Peter Boghossian hasn’t heard feminists talking about Afghanistan doesn’t mean feminists aren’t talking about Afghanistan.

There’s also a teeny-tiny police cordon, and some unwelcome visitors in Sarah Millican’s house.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rated or Dated: Muriel’s Wedding (1994) Sep 04, 2024

Show notes

PJ Hogan’s 1994 classic, Muriel’s Wedding, launched his own career, as well as those of Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths. But has Jen misremembered the Aussie comedy as a “feel-good” movie? Is Muriel/Marial/Muriel a likeable protagonist? And will Mick and Hannah ever stop laughing about an unzipped beanbag?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reah Bravo on complicity Sep 03, 2024

Show notes

When Reah Bravo encountered sexual misconduct at the hands of a former employer during her time as a broadcast journalist, she was surprised by the way she handled it. As, she discovered, were many other women in similar situations. As Reah questioned the impact of the #MeToo movement, she set about examining the ways in which women are socially conditioned to not just tolerate abuse but even prop up abusive systems. That forms the premise of her new book, Complicit: How Our Culture Enables Misbehaving Men, and so Jen caught up with her to chat about this, as well as how women sometimes benefit from complicity, victim blaming, and how cultural identity informs it all.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wright and the right Sep 01, 2024

Show notes

We often talk about how social media is radicalising men and boys, but it absolutely happens to women and girls, too. In a new BBC3 documentary, America's New Female Right, Layla Wright heads to the US to find out why so many young women are advocating against their own interests. She chats to Hannah about domineering dads, the church, the thrill of clicks, going down a right-wing wormhole and working for Louis Theroux.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sleep, glorious sleep with Lisa Artis Aug 30, 2024

Show notes

Who doesn’t love a good night’s sleep? And yet, 40% of us in the UK struggle with some sort of sleep issue. And yes, you guessed it, it affects women more than men.

Sunday marks the start of Sleeptember, so Mick grabbed the opportunity to get Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, on the Zoom to talk about those all-important zeds – and why we’ve become so bad at getting them.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bush Telegraph: Blood, social work and tears Aug 28, 2024

Show notes

It's Bush Telegraph time again and this week Hannah and Mickey are covering perhaps the widest range of topics ever: Oasis, menstrual blood, coercive control and cutting a whale's head off with a chainsaw. You are welcome. And in Sexism of the Week, Mickey's looking at how life is worsening for women in Afghanistan. We didn't say it was cheery. But it does need talking about.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices