Standard Issue Podcast
Standard Issue is a podcast by women, for women, covering everything from interviews and news to film, opinion, and humour. It champions women's voices and features a variety of engaging content. The show is packed with insightful discussions and entertaining segments.
Episodes
At home with Vanessa Feltz – literally
As the star of daytime TV, radio and podcasts for more than 30 years, there’s not much we don’t think we already know about Vanessa Feltz. But there's always more to learn, so now she’s back on our screens with At Home with Vanessa, a new YouTube show filmed in her actual home, with her actual friends, and her actual favourite crisps shipped over from Ireland for the occasion.
Jen
Outside The Box August 2026
In this month's round-up of some of the best and not-so-best things on TV, we're talking about Furious, Possession, Evolution, My Brilliant Career, 100 Years of Solitude, Station 11 and the return of Ted Lasso.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Bush Telegraph: All aboard the bus to Wetwang!
This week, Hannah and Mickey look at some of the week's best and worst stories, including major finds by archeologists, the scandal that continues to engulf Cambridge University, free travel for disabled people in England, and the ongoing "early release" crisis.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rated or Dated: The Others (2001)
Alejandro Amenábar’s creepy AF tale of grief and darkness in post-war Jersey cleared a path for the return of old-school horror. But does it stand up when you already know the twist? Is there a fate worse than Keith Allen in your upstairs? And will we ever stop inflicting Nicole Kidman on poor Hannah?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad
Susan Calman is not going on a sex cruise
It’s been a while since comedian Susan Calman went on tour: 10 years, in fact. Her brand new show, Tall Tales, kicks off in September, and promises stories, big laughs, a dose of peri rage, and – possibly – some dancing.
Mick got on the Zoom with Susan to talk comedy, weights, cats, anxiety, grief, facing big challenges, sex cruises and serial killers.
As ever, there’s more chat for our £5
Anna Holmes turns the negative into a positive
When it comes to saying no, journalist and author Anna Holmes has form. Back in 2007, she founded feminist website Jezebel, which at the time was a big old flip of the bird to traditional women’s media, and went on to change the entire media landscape. In her new book, The Power of No: A Celebration, she turns ideas around a presumed negative (especially when uttered by a woman
Flicking #76: Sorry, Baby
Eva Victor’s lauded auterial debut about a bad thing that happens to a young woman called Agnes and how she feels and deals in the aftermath, is Yosra’s pick for this month. Billed pretty much everywhere as a black comedy, will Mick and Hannah do any laughing? Is Victor’s telling of trauma authentic? How big is that cat? And how do they all feel about the term ‘traumedy’? (Spoiler: traumedis
The Bush Telegraph: A whole lot of maths
This week’s apocalypse is brought to you by Mick and Jen. They’re chatting about the early release of prisoners, which may require more nuance than ‘from October’, the rise and risks of pervert specs, some lovely cash news for women who invest, and why Jen is sat in a puddle staring at the sun.
There’s fake wives and sexist weather in SOTW, and some joyous shouting of ‘BELLEND!’ And ‘ELIMINATOR!
Rated or Dated: The Go-Between (1971)
We escape a red hot summer to visit, checks notes, another red hot summer in Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter's adaptation of LP Hartley's novel. There's big hair, wild hats, Alan Bates - swoons! - future British sitcom stars and crippling social conventions. What could possibly go wrong?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Vix Leyton, Chief Petty Officer
Comedian and long-time Standard Issue friend Vix Leyton's latest show – Chief Petty Officer – is on at the Edinburgh Fringe right now. She chats to Hannah about big changes, small pettinesses, the cost of the Fringe (in every sense), and the joys of moving up North.
Tickets and info for Chief Petty Officer here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap
Digging up Buried stories, with Lucy Taylor
Investigative journalist Lucy Taylor is, along with her partner in podcasting and partner in life Dan Ashby, responsible for the award-winning BBC Radio 4/BBC Sounds programme Buried, the third series of which has been recently released. She chats to Hannah about how the dumping of dead animals in a tiny community led to a network of organised crime in the British countryside, and how rural p
The Bush Telegraph: “He would make outrageous claims, like he invented the question mark”
Is there a new grifter on the scene? Hannah’s been nose to the ground around the ever-growing tall tales of Jason Arday, the University of Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor with a very impressive CV. Too impressive? Weeeelllll.
There’s definitely an old grifter on the scene, as Mick’s been nose to the ground around the ever-growing “joke” candidate list for next week’s Clacton-on-Sea’s by
Rated or Dated: Mission: Impossible (1996)
“Wake up, Claire, Jim’s dead! They’re all dead!” Is the subtle way Tom Cruise’s super-cool spy Ethan Hunt tells a woman her husband’s been killed a cipher for the rest of Brian De Palma’s slick and shiny 1996 thriller? How secure is that CIA vault? Where did you get that mask? Is it really that easy to get stabbed through a fence? Mick and Hannah answer these questions and many more, as the first
Susannah Walker is In Her Place
When it comes to women and girls being not just welcome and safe in public places and spaces, but also thought about and designed for, Susannah Walker has credentials and previous.
When she and Imogen Clark co-founded the not-for-profit Make Space For Girls back in 2021, her eyes were opened to a whole load more issues to address when it comes to women and girls in public places and spaces.
Working the algorithm with Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Like it or loathe it, social media is a huge part of our everyday lives. That's the topic sociologist and journalist Kathryn Jezer-Morton grapples with in her new book, The Story of Your Life: Social Media, Storytelling and the Branding of Everyday Life, in which she attempts to uncover the deeper truths about how what we see and share on social media is rewriting the ways we make sense
Outside The Box July 2026
In this month's guide to the best and worst TV, we're watching Cape Fear, Katie Price: Nothing To Hide, Ann Droid, Jesy Nelson; Life Changing, The American Revolution and I, Jack Wright.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rated or Dated: Point Break (1991)
Kathryn Bigelow’s “wet western” action-thriller has something for everyone: Keanu Reeves’ face if your Jen, Gary Busey in general if you’re Mick, and a dog being thrown at a person during a high-speed foot-chase if you’re Hannah. But will this wang-heavy surfer-bank-robber classic stand the test of time? And we did all know it was directed by a woman, right?
Learn more about your ad choices. V
Emma Linley-Clark on why 40 years should have been enough
On July 28, 1986, estate agent Suzy Lamplugh went to work as normal, preparing to meet a client. She was never seen again and no trace of her has ever been found. Suzy was declared legally dead, presumed murdered, in 1993. In response to her disappearance, her parents Paul and
Diana set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and over the last 40 years, the Trust has been responsible for vital work
Cathi Unsworth: Proud to be Goth
Writer and music journalist Cathi Unsworth’s compilation for Ace records, Dressed in Black: Goth Divas From the Dark Side 1941-2025, shines a light on the women who laid the sonic and cultural foundations for Goth. The album is a dark joy and an excellent companion to Cathi’s 2023 book, Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth. And the perfect excuse for our Mick to get Cathi on the Zoom to chat what
The Bush Telegraph: Wait… Andy Burnham?!?
The UK has a new Prime Minister, and you’ll never bloody guess who it is. Mick and Jen talk about the King of the North’s brand new office, as well as some legislative heel-dragging around surrogacy and some Marie-France van Heel-dragging by the usual suspects. There’s good news on shadow-banning, cat-finding and, in JOTB, filming female athletes. Also in JOTB, does anyone have any VAR on the lack
Addie E. Citchens on the sins of the father
Addie E. Citchens’s debut novel, Dominion, received A LOT of award nods. And rightly so: set in the Mississippi Delta, it’s a powerful story about powerful men doing powerfully bad things. But Addie puts her focus on what the women who love them have to do to survive them – and how far those women will go to protect them.
Mick chats to Addie about how the patriarchy shapes all of us, t
Bravo Glasgow, with Eilidh Doyle, Ellie Simmonds and Beth Tweddle
After stepping in at the 11th hour to save the event, Glasgow will host The Commonwealth Games when they kick off on July 23. Jen jumped on the Zoom with former GB athletes-turned TNT Sports pundits, Eilidh Doyle, Ellie Simmonds and Beth Tweddle, to chat about the importance of the games, competing in your home nation, and what they’re looking forward to wat
Flicking #75: Die My Love
A Lynne Ramsay film? It’s been a while… The director’s psychological drama slash postpartum nightmare garnered loads of praise for lead actor Jennifer Lawrence and got a fair few awards nods. But what will Team Flicking make of it? Hannah’s got her ‘I heart Lynne Ramsay’ banner out, Yosra’s prepped for the big bleak, but not sure it’s all about the new mumming, and Mick’s real worried about that d
Jenny Off The Blocks Special: We're doing alright at sport
England in a World Cup semi-final, a Brit in the semis at Wimbledon and Unions Jacks all over the F1 drivers' table, that's a busy few weeks of sport. In a special episode, Jen and Hannah talk about what's going well and what's not, as well as hydration breaks, VAR and other World Cup dramas.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rated or Dated: Legally Blonde (2001)
This fish-out-of-water comedy-cum-bubblegum “feminist” smash, starring Reece Witherspoon as pink-loving sorority princess Elle Woods, made a killing at the box office, spawned a whole Legally Blonde world, and inspired girls to go to law school. But 25 years on will it make Mick, Hannah and Jen bend… or SNAP?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to Utopia/Dystopia* (*Delete as applicable)
Eleanor Drage is one of the UK’s leading AI ethicists and gender studies researchers, working at the University of Cambridge. Her first book, What If We Got AI Right? How to stop catastrophising and build an ethical future, is released this week, so Hannah grabbed the chance to find out more.
* You can pre-order Eleanor's book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/what-if-we-got-a
The making of an icon, with Beatriz Garcia-Velasco
In her short lifetime of just 47 years, Frida Kahlo was a relatively little-known artist. Now, she's a global icon. And while her actual work is hard to come by, her image is not.
Tate Modern's Frida: The Making of an Icon explores how Kahlo's iconic status came to be and her enduring influence on generations of younger artists.
Co-curator Beatriz Garcia-Velasco,
Nicky Denson-Elliott is a professional feminist
Nicky Denson-Elliott knows that a high tide lifts all boats. She first came to our Mick’s attention because of her current campaign to replace ‘hysterectomy’ with ‘uterectomy’ in NHS patient materials (you can sign the petition here), but it quickly became apparent how many different projects Nicky's got going in order to raise that tide for all boats. And by boats, we mean women.
In this e
The Bush Telegraph: Leathery arses all around
Mickey and Hannah bring you a veritable rogues gallery this week: Farage, Trump, Infantino, a vigilante cat shaver. Shall we go on a 2,400-mile rowing trip to get away from it? Sure. But don't forget to pack your vaginal oestrogen!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rated or Dated: Escape to Victory (1981)
Hollywood giant John Huston directs Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and – wait – Pelé, in this sports-war drama, reimagining the 1942 “Death Match”. But how bad can a prisoner of war camp be when all you have to do is dick around playing football? How solid is the history? And can you really do that with a sub?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Havoc and hysteria, with Rebecca Wait
Author Rebecca Wait makes a return visit to the podcast to chat to Hannah about her latest book Havoc, a dark comedy about a mystery illness that breaks out at a girls' boarding school in 1984. They chat about Cold War anxiety, hysteria and, of course, Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Grab a copy of Havoc here
Or Suzanne O'Sullivan's The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness her
A not-dying art form, with Leyla Nazli and Lisa Logan
This summer marks the 19th year of the Arcola Theatre’s seminal Grimeborn festival, a season of new and reworked operas.
Jen chats to the Arcola’s executive director, Leyla Nazli and Lisa Logan,
the composer behind new work After My Breath, about bringing opera to Dalston, why people find the art form intimidating, and those comments by Timothée Chalamet.
The Grimeborn Opera Festival runs from 1
Get Ahead of Being Dead, with Evie King
After her first book - Ashes to Admin - was published, a lot of people got in touch with Evie King to tell her they'd been inspired to get plans in place for the end of their lives. If that's what she could achieve without trying, she thought, why not write a book to help people through the whole process? Hannah chats to Evie about Get Ahead of Being Dead, wills, funerals and why the hard conversa
The Bush Telegraph: Watch out, beavers about!
Is too much screen time really the scourge of the under-twos? And exactly how excited should we be that the first ever female Labour Prime Minister is Andy Burnham, a man who isn’t even Prime Minister yet? Jen and Mick tackle these hot button questions and more in this week’s flirt with the news, which also includes another heinous rape trial, legitimately great news for young women, and Greg Cots
Rated or Dated: The King & I (1956)
No-one's going to argue that Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical doesn't have issues, but does it still have things to recommend it? Is Anna an early feminist? Does it contain a banger? Is The Small House of Uncle Thomas a masterpiece? And why was young Hannah so fascinated by Yul Brynner?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rachel Fairburn is a class act
Working-class, feminist comedian Rachel Fairburn has long been a guaranteed good laugh on the comedy circuit, and a must-listen on All Killa No Filla, her smash hit true crime podcast with fellow standup Kiri Pritchard-McLean.
Rachel’s new show, Vexy Beasts, moves her into the ‘character comedy’ bracket, as she introduces hairdresser Leanne, fighting for her salon’s life while spilling the T on
Sex Talk with Emma-Louise Boynton
In her new book, Pleasure: The Reclamation of My Body, journalist and broadcaster Emma-Louise Boynton interrogates the societal forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel pleasure. Jen chats to Emma about Emma's own story, the impact of the male gaze and digital culture on women’s pleasure, why gendered ideas around sex and pleasure are doing us all a disservice,
Outside The Box June 2026
Planning on spending the weekend on the sofa with all the fans pointed at you? Here are some suggestions on what you could watch at the same time. This month, we're talking about Two Weeks in August, The Four Seasons, Rivals, The Witness, The Burroughs, Widow's Bay, World War Two with Tom Hanks and what we make of World Cup coverage so far.
* Hannah's chatting about why she thinks The Pitt's Dr R
The Bush Telegraph: Live from the kitchen
It’s feeling swampish in the UK this week, but spare a thought for the poor old Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool over in Washington DC. It seems Donald J Trump can think of nothing else. If the leader of the free world is distracted, the leader of the UK is... well, to be decided/Andy Burnham following Keir Starmer's resignation. There’s sexism live from the ITV kitchen, Hannah's found some elderl
Rated or Dated: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Steven Spielberg’s swashbuckling, whip-cracking, quip-cracking archaeologist Indiana Jones’s first adventure was beating the Nazis to the lost Ark of the Covenant. Will film picker Mick keep her big love for the film and its flawed hero under her fedora? Spoiler: NO! But what will Jen and Hannah have to say about the breakneck Oscar-nabbing adventure film that launched a thousand adventure films i
Clio Wood is fighting social media’s silencing of women
Ever wondered why a female health campaigner writes ‘seggs’ instead of ‘sex’, or uses an emoji instead of a medical term? Turns out social media platforms are systematically censoring medically accurate content on topics such as menstruation, fertility and menopause – often misclassifying such content as “adult” material and limiting its reach. It goes further, with femtech entrepreneurs also find
Enjoying the ride with Christina Pallanch
As the saying goes, you never forget how to ride a bike. But how easy is it to teach a small person something you can’t remember not being able to do?
Following the UK launch of children’s bike brand Woom, Jen jumped on the Zoom with senior marketing manager Christina Pallanch to talk about modelling an active lifestyle for our girls, carving out time to stay active as a mum, and top tips for pic
Flicking #74: The Ballad of Wallis Island
Charming, melancholic, funny and ever-so British, Tim Key and Tom Basden’s tale of two men stuck in the past and on an island is Hannah’s pick for this month’s Flicking. How does Carey Mulligan fit in? Is Basden really that grubby? And why is Key making Mick and Yosra cry so much?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Bush Telegraph: Let’s ban banning things
Hannah and Mick can’t say FFS loud enough as The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill returns from the dead for another round in Parliament. And just how good an idea is the blanket banning of social media for under 16s? Or indeed the blanket banning of anything? Still, in good news, reading is up, the Wombles are back, and women get two personality choices courtesy of The Times. How generous.
Rated or Dated: The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
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. Vi
Martina Laird on Driftwood
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
Kate Mason on the not-so-beautiful game
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 opti
Liv Hill is 1536 shades of smashing
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
The Bush Telegraph: Angrier than a bad case of monkey butt
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
Rated or Dated: Logan's Run (1976)
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
Need a sonnet? We're on it
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 Issu
Rosie Morris on the kids making sure Mum's OK
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 responsibilit
Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Anoushka Warden have All The Rage
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
The Bush Telegraph: PSG, FOH, WTAF?
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
Rated or Dated: Hudson Hawk (1991)
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
Straight talking, with Phoebe Maltz Bovy
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/phoeb
Alex Light knows the price of pretty
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
Lalala Let Me Explain on why ‘unwise’ should also be illegal
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 no
The Bush Telegraph: Piss poor judgment all round
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
Rated or Dated: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001)
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
The haunting of New York, with Natalie Adler
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
Outside The Box May 2026
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
Rated or Dated: Short Circuit (1986)
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
Virginia Mendoza's search for water
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 ou
Gillian Best knows pain
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 wom
Flicking #73: Sinners
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 Jorda
The Bush Telegraph: Hey, hey, there's no monkeys
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
Rated or Dated: Mulholland Drive (2001)
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 i
Exposing the cost of extreme porn
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 conte
The Family Lawyer’s guide to courts, with Laura Naser
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
The Bush Telegraph: Are we all still going on a summer holiday?
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? A
Rated or Dated: Barb Wire (1996)
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 choic
Iron: the hill Rose Stokes won’t die on
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
Discovering Paula Bartley’s trailblazing women
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 publis
Protecting our elderly, with Kate Snell
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: ht
The Bush Telegraph: The (G)rapes of wrath
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 Camero
Rated or Dated: Harold and Maude
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
Sudi Pigott considers the anchovy
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 i
Alexandra Wood on Hilary Mantel, Thatcher and political violence
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’
Outside The Box April 2026
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
Recommended
Beyond The Bird Table
Uk Mix RadioShow
CAA on General Aviation
Nick Ferrari - The Whole Show
World Questions
InsideAIR
Off Court With Greg Rusedski
IELTS, OET and UKMLA PLAB 2 Made Easy Podcast For Medical Professionals
The Systemic Way
Trauma Bonding to Secure Relationship
Golden's Oldies
Lucy & Sam's Perfect Brains
