Standard Issue Podcast

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SIM Ep 964 Chops 296: Powering up with Yasmin Ali Apr 21, 2024

Show notes

Most of us would be able to name our energy provider and probably a list of reasons we’re annoyed with them, but when it comes to the hows and whos that get it to, say, our plug sockets, details can be a bit sketchy.

Mick’s been on the Zoom with Yasmin Ali, a chemical engineer dedicated to developing renewable energy projects and author of the book Power Up: An Engineer's Adventures into Sustainable Energy. All credit to Yasmin, who has taken a potentially dry and technical subject and made it a fascinating read. Although – spoiler alert – there are no easy answers to the looming energy crisis.

And so, in this week’s Chops, Mick and Yasmin are talking about the complicated answers, about how Yasmin’s grounding in fossil fuels led her to hydrogen, her passion for (and optimism about) clean energy, why being born in Iraq made her love Norway, and why she’s not watching Oppenheimer.

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SIM Ep 963 Flicking #48: Poor Things Apr 20, 2024

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Hold onto your fannies, because for this month’s Flicking, Mick’s picked Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthikos (man), based on a novel by Alisdair Gray (man), adapted for the big screen by Tony McNamara (man) and one of 2023’s hot feminist picks. DISCUSS.

Emma Stone bagged an Oscar for her portrayal of Bella Baxter, the Frankenstein’s monster-esque creation of Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Defoe), who goes on a voyage of self-discovery and empowerment/has sex with a lot of people – same, same. DISCUSS. And yes, Yosra and Hannah have a lot to say. And rightly so. Also includes *quite* the revelation for Yosra about Yosra. Hold onto your fannies! Did we already say that? Well, you can never have too much fanny. DISCUSS

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SIM Ep 962 Pod 301: Loretta Lynn, Tanya Franks and – whose hand is that? – oh, Tracy Flick Apr 17, 2024

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You’ve seen Sharon Horgan’s brilliant sitcom Pulling, right? If you haven’t, please do go watch it immediately *waits impatiently, tapping foot* Okay! How good is Tanya Franks in it?!? SOOOO good. Which means you’ll understand why our Hannah has been champing at the bit for nigh on a decade to get an interview in. And here she is: Tanya Franks chatting to Hannah about accents, marathons, free speech, her current role in Power of Sail at the Menier Chocolate Factory and, of course, the joy and chaos of Karen in Pulling.

Another brilliant woman? But of course – have two. It’s been a while, but Liz Buckley, our resident font of all music knowledge, is back and she’s explaining to Mick why we should all love Loretta Lynn. Lynn might not have called herself a feminist, deeming the label too exclusive, but sweet Lordy, she was a shot in the arm for women in the very male, very conservative world of country music.

Get your camel toe out for the lads! In Jenny Off the Blocks, Jen’s looking at Nike’s new Olympics wear for Team America (fuck yeah!). And in Rated or Dated, can a satire satirise something before it’s even happened? Here’s looking at you, 1999’s Election.

Power of Sail is at the Menier Chocolate Factory until May 12

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SIM Ep 961 Chops 295: Elaine Lin Hering is Unlearning Silence Apr 14, 2024

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Harvard Law School lecturer, consultant and speaker, Elaine Lin Hering, was frustrated in her professional life by the realising that having a seat at the table isn't enough if no one can hear what you're saying. This inspired her to write Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent and Lead With Courage, and she chats to Jen about it in this week's Chops. They talk about how we learn silence, how we actively silence others, why that disproportionately impacts certain groups, and the myth of imposter syndrome.

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SIM Ep 960 Outside The Box #64 Apr 12, 2024

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Having a busy April? Why not have a nice sit down and turn on the telly? This month, Hannah and Jen are talking about Passenger, Manhunt, The Gone, The Dry, Masters of the Air, Mary & George, The Regime and Tell Them You Love Me.

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SIM Ep 959 Pod 300: Glass cliffs, tragic magic and TOP THAT! Apr 10, 2024

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We’ve all heard of the glass ceiling, right? But what about the phenomenon befalling the high-flying women who have dared to smash through it? It’s known as the glass cliff, and Sophie Williams has written a book about it. Sophie joins Mick this week, to talk about how and why it happens – and why the issue matters to all women.

Meanwhile, Jen is on the Zoom with theatre company Dirty Hare, to talk witches, history and their play Gunter, which is showing at The Royal Court Theatre until April 25.

In Jenny Off The Blocks, there’s rugby, cricket and more. And in Rated or Dated, there’s more witchcraft afoot, but will 1989 “cult classic” Teen Witch be cinematic magic or a curse on the eyes, ears and emotions?

Meanwhile, in unrelated news *cough*, Hannah's wading through a river of jobbies in the Bush Telegraph.

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SIM Ep 958 Chops 294: Hadley Freeman and the Good Girls Apr 06, 2024

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According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, hospital admissions for eating disorders have increased by 84% over the past five years. And yet, for so many of us, anorexia remains very hard to understand. Hannah chats to author, journalist and recovered anorexic Hadley Freeman about her memoir Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia, about her experiences, as a teenager and now a mother, and about why so many women have a complicated relationship with food.

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SIM Ep 957 Pod 299: All aboard the flying bath mat! Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

Experts - we should listen to them, right? RIGHT? Well, maybe not all of them. That's what Hannah learned while talking to Dr Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist and the host of new Radio 4 show Experts on Trial. Jen's been on the Zoom with Heather McCalden to talk about her genre-bending debut book, The Observable Universe, which is about losing both her parents to AIDS in the early '90s, and grief in the internet age. And in Rated or Dated, having not seen it as kids, what will Mickey and Hannah make of 1984's The NeverEnding Story?

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SIM Ep 956 Chops 293: Courtney Moorehead Balaker on The Coddling of the American Mind Mar 31, 2024

Show notes

If you've not read the Atlantic article The Coddling of the American Mind, or the book that followed it, you've likely heard us recommend it. And now, it's a documentary, so Hannah got straight on the Zoom to California to talk to its producer Courtney Moorehead Balaker about the current mental health crisis among young people and how, rather than helping, the culture on US university campuses is making young people more vulnerable. And how tribalism, helicopter parenting and the “one strike and you're out” culture of public shaming has left young people afraid to make mistakes.

The original Atlantic article, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coddling-American-Mind-Intentions-Generation/dp/0735224897

And you can watch the film here: https://www.thecoddlingmovie.com/

If you are struggling with your mental health, please reach out to the Samaritans. More details here: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/talk-us-phone/

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SIM Ep 955 Pod 298: Love letters to Scotland Mar 28, 2024

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Playwright Stef Smith is best known for her, well, plays. But her award-winning BBC Scotland drama, Float – a tender tangle of love, life and identity in small-town Scotland – is also well worth your time. Season one is already bingeable on the iPlayer and, ahead of season two hitting screens at the end of the month, our Mick chatted to Stef about water, women in love, representation, and the joys of being a soppy sausage.

Talking of soppy sausages, Jen’s quite rightly feeling emotional about what seeing sporting women means to girls getting into sporting. And has top-tier cynic Hannah Dunleavy gone and picked a romance for Rated or Dated? Well, that’s up for discussion as we watch 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Plus bullies, unfinished church business, time theory, not enough nurses, and the return of Nelson Mandela.

PS: Scotland, we love you.

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