Standard Issue Podcast

Back last May, when Mick interviewed classicist, comedian and author Natalie Haynes about Pandora’s Jar – her anthology of women in Greek myths – she asked who Natalie’s favourite woman from Greek myth is and the answer was swift: Medusa. 

And it’s easy to see why. Medusa, best known as a monster with snakes for hair and the ability to turn living creatures to stone with just a look, was actually a young woman, horribly wronged, terribly punished and then painted as a villain...

It’s a year since US and UK troops pulled out of Afghanistan, in what can only be termed a clusterfuck of mishandling. The Taliban wasted no time in regaining control of the country and, despite a lot of chatter that this would be a more enlightened Taliban 2.0, different from the brutal backwardness of the 1990s, immediately began restricting freedoms for women and girls...

Standard Issue favourite Kit de Waal always knew she’d had a strange childhood. One of five siblings brought up in relative poverty in Birmingham by her Irish Catholic mother and West Indian father, she was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. In her new memoir, Without Warning and Only Sometimes: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood, she ditches her usual novel format to write with warmth and candour about her own life experiences...

Tracy Dawson had a steep learning curve when she was starting out in screenwriting, as she came to realise the same opportunities didn’t exist for her, deemed as “niche” as a woman, as they did for men. This inspired her new book Let Me Be Frank, about women who disguised themselves as men to get what they wanted. She chats to Hannah about the book, defiance, and whether or not “shit” is a swear word...

It's not been all sport and Love Island on the telly in August. In fact, it's not even been all August on our TVs, as we tuck in to recent offerings as well as some stuff we've been meaning to watch for ages. So brace yourself for a whole lot of chat about Winning Time: The Rise of The Lakers Dynasty, The Resort, The Newsreader, Shetland, Marriage, Gaslit, The Sandman and Ted Lasso. 

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What would happen if a food writer became an accidental murderer and deliberate cannibal? In this week’s podcast, Mick finds out as she chats to journalist Chelsea G Summers about her debut novel A Certain Hunger. They discuss the symbolism of cannibalism, women’s relationships with food and their bodies, and how it is used against them...

“Being the guy who wanks on the Tube – that’s not aspirational.” Just some of the words of wisdom from this week’s Chops guest, comedian Esther Manito, who has some thought-provoking opinions around the role women play in generational sexism...

*sings* Spider-Man, Spider-Man/Does whatever a spider can./Spins a web, any size./Catches thieves just like flies./Look out/Here comes the Spider-Man… and another Spider-Man… and a Spider-Woman… and a Spider-Pig… and Nicholas Cage…

WHAT NOW? If you’ve already seen 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, this month’s Flicking pick from Yosra, that will all make sense. If not, strap in, as Yosra, Hannah and Mick enter the Oscar-winning animated Spidey multi-verse...

Nestled in the sweet spot of ‘cartoon for kids that adults love, too’, the Emmy Award-winning Bluey is a firm favourite in the Offord household. Which means our Jen’s trying really hard not to fangirl as she chats to actress Melanie Zanetti, aka Chilli, about Australian cattle dogs, crossing comic boundaries, parenting goals and never meeting your husband...

Old women aren't often the protagonists of stories, which is why when Hannah got the chance to chat to Jane Campbell, she jumped at it. Jane, who is 80, has just had her first collection of short stories - Cat Brushing - published, and she tells us why it's never too late to make your hobby your job.

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