Standard Issue Podcast

If you’ve no idea what’s going on with the US and Greenland, don't worry – neither do we. Nor, apparently, does Donald Trump, so join the club. Elsewhere, we’ve identified a learning opportunity for Nigel Farage, there’s good news neither Hannah nor Jen are ready to listen to, and we start the campaign for equal opportunities LOL-ing at the Beckhams. And with the Australian Open underway, Jen caught up with TNT Sports pundit and former GB tennis star, Laura Robson, to find out more about the runners and riders. The Australian Open is broadcast on TNT Sports and available to stream on Discovery+ in the UK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does Robert Rodriguez’s 1996 grindhouse-schlock fest with a screeching plot twist put even more NO into its writer and “star” Quentin Tarantino for Mick, Hannah and Jen? Ooh, it’s a breath bater. George Clooney’s film debut was a far cry from ER’s Dr Doug Ross, but classic Tarantino to its core. But does that mean it’s OUTRAGEOUS and CONTROVERSIAL and CLEVER and THE BEST or just jerk-off dogshit misogyny? Find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist, author and mother of three, Ellie Levenson used to dream of time away from the pressures of family life, a fantasy shared by many of her female friends. This became the basis for her first novel, Room 706, a story about extra-marital affairs, gunmen, and who’s picking up those bread rolls the kids like. Jen chatted to Ellie about the book, the mental load, and what it's like to get props from Sarah Jessica Parker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian, actress and writer Lucia Keskin made her name on YouTube as Chi with a C, where she started making content at just 16. Indeed, one of her first videos to go viral was her opening her GCSE results on camera.  Fair to say, Lucia’s a natural comedic voice, and the first season of her BBC3 sitcom Things You Should Have Done bagged a big following as well as a couple of awards (hello a BAFTA). It’s back this week for season two, so Mick got Lucia on the Zoom to find out what our spectacularly hapless hero Chi has been up to, and to talk about the joy in dopey and mean female characters, the excitement of added Bridget Christie, failing all your GCSEs, and how silly might save us all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Eisenberg’s Oscar-winning comedy drama received an embarrassment of plaudits from the industry and critics. Now it’s time to get the ones that really matter: Mick, Hannah and Yosra watch American-Jewish cousins Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Eisenberg) as they embark on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland, following the death of their Holocaust-surviving grandmother. Feel-good film? Mismatched buddy comedy? Devastatingly bittersweet? All of the above? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the first BT of 2026, so Mickey and Hannah have some catching up to do. This time, they're talking about failure: Grok user failures, women's health study failures and child benefit failures. Still, elderly nuns are making a reappearance, so it's not all bad.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Carter’s teen dance film helped launch the career of Julia Stiles, but has she been wronged by public perceptions of her dance skills in the years that followed? How many tropes are too many tropes? And can it hold a torch to 1983's Flashdance? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holocaust Memorial Day is coming up later this month (Tuesday 27 January), so Hannah's been on the Zoom with historian Elizabeth Hyman to talk about her non-fiction book The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto. They talk about five very different women who lived there, the work they did for their people and the tough choices they made. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling bogged down by meetings and out of her depth at work, travel writer Laura Hall quit her job and embarked on a fresh challenge to get her life back on track. Her new book, The Year I Lay My Head in Water: Swimming Scandinavia in Search of a Better Life, documents the year that followed, spent cold-water swimming around Scandinavia. Jen chats to Laura about the book, the appeal of the sea, the insanity of cold-water swimming, and the absolute joy of taking on a daft challenge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our weekly look at a film from the past is back for the New Year like a boulder about to smash into your swimming pool, as we watch Jonathan Glazer's debut: a one-last-job tale with a gangster who won't take no for an answer. No matter how many times he hears it. But does Sexy Beast still pass muster?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices