Standard Issue Podcast

Educator, science translator and sustainability queen Illana Adamson works with businesses and non-profits to introduce sustainability initiatives, actions and behaviours into their organisations – and all our lives. She’s a big proponent of if you can’t be perfect, just be better. And we need to be, or this human race is run.  Illana chats to our Mick about real action over greenwashing, why women are so important in the work ahead, and how Mother Nature will always come out on top. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who pays the highest price when respect is missing? That’s the inadvertent theme for Hannah and Mick as they tackle this week’s news. And it turns out there are plenty of people they’d both like to see with an unexploded WWI ordnance shoved where the sun don’t shine, including a lot of men in the Epstein Files, and a fair few MPs and Lords keen to get a dangerously faulty car on the road without an MOT. Take a deep breath and tuck in. Oh, and please do keep your historical artefacts where we can see them at all times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s not to love about John Henderson’s 1996 family adventure, Loch Ness? Hannah, Mick, and Jen have no notes. Okay, they have a few. Like what kind of academic specialism has you hunting mythical creatures? What would a Habsburg prehistoric sea-beast look like? How hot is fixing a tap? And what's Rod Stewart's big beef? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If it’s escaped your attention that there’s a Winter Olympics getting underway at the end of the week, it might be because you think us Brits aren’t much cop at all that cold stuff. Think again, say former GB snowboarder turned TNT Sports pundit, Aimee Fuller, and Chief Exec of GB Snowsport, Vicky Gosling. With the pair hoping for a huge uptick in Team GB’s fortunes at the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026, Jen caught up with them to chat about the remarkable turnaround in our British team’s fortunes since Beijing in 2022, whether or not it’s good to be an underdog, and the TNT Sports documentary She Who Dares. You can watch 24/7 coverage of Milano Cortina 2026 on TNT Sports and Discovery+. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill appears to hit the rocks in the House of Lords, Hannah chats to one of the people questioning whether it is fit for purpose, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson. The pioneering wheelchair racer tells us about her concerns about the disabled community, coercive control and patients with anorexia. * The Standard Issue Substack can be found here: https://standardissuepodcast.substack.com/ Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon * And Not Dead Yet UK can be found here: https://www.notdeadyetuk.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's coming to our TV screens in 2026? Find out in the year's first Outside The Box, as we talk about that, as well as why Hannah's cancelled her Netflix and what telly gems have made January a bit more bearable.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From badly-timed cinema release to sleeper hit to cult favourite, Richard Kelly's debut film spawned careers, revivals and a Christmas number one. But has it stood the test of time (travel)?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Maloney’s fast-paced new thriller The 10:12 is set onboard a hijacked train, and some passengers aren’t just going to sit back and do as they’re told. One in particular, Claire Fitzroy, a late mid-life arts teacher, ruffles feathers when she not only takes action, but takes charge.  Anna chats to Mick about how wildly recollections of events may differ, have-a-go heroes (and heroines), and why you should never underestimate a woman in her mid-life.  There is, as ever, more chat for our £5 and above patrons, so if you fancy getting involved, visit patreon.com/standardissue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Dr Donna Peberdy, associate professor of performance, sex and gender at Southampton Solent University, began to see a lot of representations of violence against women in work made by female filmmakers, she realised what a useful tool they could be. So, in collaboration with the 16 Days 16 Films festival, she started Screening Sexual Violence, a research project and online resource. Jen caught up with Donna to talk about the work she’s doing, what she’s seeing, and whether or not AI is about to make it so much worse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Safe Haven, which has just opened at London's Arcola theatre, tells the true story of what happened in spring 2001, when two million Kurds fleeing Saddam Hussein's forces found themselves in the freezing mountains, and two Whitehall diplomats decided to intervene. Hannah chats to two of the play's stars, Lisa Zahra and Beth Burrows, to find out more. * Safe Haven is on until February 7. More information and tickets here: https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/safe-haven/ * You can support Standard Issue here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices