Standard Issue Podcast

It's Refugee Week, so Mickey has been on the Zoom with Agnes Tanoh and Sam Hudson from Women For Refugee Women about how Yarl’s Wood is a prison not sanctuary, the plight of refugee women in the UK, and the fight to halt the building of a new detention centre in County Durham. Euro 2020 is finally underway, so Jen chats to Scotland Women's football manager and BBC Sport pundit, Shelley Kerr. With all this talk about "the health of the nation", Hannah's got a barrage of facts in BT that might make you question what those words mean. And, cover your eyes, The Goblin King has his indecently tight pants on in Rated or Dated, as we watch 986's Labyrinth. You have been warned. More about that St John's College study Hannah talks about in BT here: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/scientists-can-predict-which-women-will-have-serious-pregnancy-complications You can sign Agnes’ petition to stop detaining women seeking asylum here: https://www.change.org/stop-detaining-women You can use this simple tool to contact your MP and ask them to take action to stop the new immigration detention centre for women: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/write-to-your-mp-hassockfield You can find out more about the Home Office’s plan to open the new detention centre here: https://www.refugeewomen.co.uk/stop-the-new-detention-centre/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary Wollstonecraft is the subject of Samantha Silva’s latest book, Love And Fury, an historical fiction reanimating the life and legacy of arguably the world’s first feminist. And what a life. Samantha chats to Mickey about being an 18th Century radfem, why Wollstonecraft is still all-too relevant today, the importance of women – obvs! – and *that* Newington Green statue. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest novel, Rodham, imagines an alternative history for Hillary Clinton – one in which she never married Bill – and she chats to Hannah about how exactly you go about blending fact and fiction, the highs and lows of 2016, and that time Hannah predicted a tit explosion in a political debate. Rubbish research, wandering wombs and the ol’ “women are making shit up” come into play AGAIN, as Jen talks to Dr Elinor Cleghorn about women and medicine and the litany of ways women’s bodies and minds have been misunderstood throughout history, as covered in her new book Unwell Women. And in JOTB, Jen's chatting the Euros, the Paralympics and showing solidarity.The team are wearing sandals and ready to fight stop-motion beasties as Rated or Dated travels back to 1981’s Clash of the Titans to get misty-eyed over Ray Harryhausen’s creations and baffled by Laurence Olivier’s film choices. And there’s a quite frankly astonishing amount of good news in the Bush Telegraph. Also, y’know, some depressing business as usual, because the world's not tilted entirely off its axis.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best-selling author Jane Thynne's upcoming novel, Widowland, was inspired by reactions to Jane herself, after the death of her husband, fellow best-selling scribe Philip Kerr. She chats to Hannah about Widowland, and why some alternative histories are closer to reality than we might think, as well as the status of widows, in the past and today. Jane also chats refreshingly openly about her experiences of losing her husband, and how it has altered her attitudes to life, possessions and the wisdom of choosing computer passwords. Widowland, written under the pen name CJ Carey, is published on June 10.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever read a book and thought, "I'd love it if (child I know) could read it, but it's still a bit old for them?" Well, Victoria Hislop has solved that problem with at least one of those books, rewriting her novel The Island, as Maria's Island, a book for kids. Jen caught up with her to find out more, and also learned a lot about why leprosy is still a real problem in some parts of the world. Hannah's been chatting about the Celebrating City Women initiative with Wendy Hyde, from The City of London Corporation, and historian Virginia Rounding. Plus, Jen chats Naomi Osaka, mental health and the media, in Jenny Off The Blocks, and it's double Hayley Mills and piss-poor parenting ahoy as we watch 1961's The Parent Trap in Rated or Dated. Tuck in! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard for teenage girls to make their voices heard at the best of times, let alone in the midst of a global pandemic. This week Mick chats to playwright and co-director of Illumine Theatre, Lisa Parry, who's written an excellent play, The Merthyr Stigmatist, about just this. They also talk about small-town Wales, and that time a cockatiel decapitated the baby Jesus.  Prepare for your mind to be blown as Hannah gets on the Zoom with writer Judith Mackrell, to talk about her new book Going With The Boys: Six Extraordinary Women Writing From The Front Line, a group biography of six incredible women working as Second World War correspondents.  In Jenny off the Blocks, Jen’s got beef with clay as she gives us the lowdown on the French Open, and in Rated or Dated, we're hailing the four corners of shite special effects as we watch 1996's The Craft. Dig in!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Misuse of Drugs Act, so Hannah's been on the Zoom to Jane Slater, of the campaign group Transform Drugs, to talk about where and why reform is needed. They discuss the pressure UK drugs laws put on the justice system, prisons and health services, as well as communities and individuals, why we have fallen so far behind other countries when it comes to marijuana policy, and why a law that's not enforced equally shouldn't be enforced at all. Have at it.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What have the Greek myths ever done for us? Loads, it turns out, as writer, broadcaster, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes explains to Mickey in this week’s podzine. They chat about how the Classics still resonate, why they’re for everyone, and how the women in Greek myth have been given short shrift by (relatively) modern interpreters. What a surprise, eh?We can all agree that panic attacks are fucking horrible, but they’re still quite often dismissed or lumped in with other mental health issues. Jen chats to mental health advocate Claire Eastham, who has had 371 panic attacks and so is perfectly placed to discuss why they happen and how to deal with them; something she also covers in her new book F**K I THINK I'M DYING.The answer to the weekly question Rated or Dated is plain as day, schweedhaaart, as the team watch Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies and take turns doing Brenda Blethyn impressions. Plus, there’s football chat and Alex Scott celebrations in Jenny Off The Blocks, and an exciting experiment, a Matlock car-park, and a need for women in the Bush Telegraph. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ll no doubt recognise award-winning actor Rakie Ayola from her wide-ranging stuff on the telly – from Black Mirror to EastEnders to Doctor Who to Noughts + Crosses to Holby City – or you may have seen her at the theatre in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime or as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter And The Cursed Child or, most recently, in her award-winning turn as Noni in On Bear Ridge at the Royal Court. As of tomorrow, Monday 17 May, you can catch Rakie as DS Holland in The Pact, Little Door’s new six-parter for BBC Wales. It's a tense, gripping thriller about a mysterious death and its impact on a group of four female friends who make a terrible decision. You can watch it on BBC One each Monday at 9pm or, if you’re an impatient telly watcher, the whole series will also be on iPlayer from May 17. Our Mickey caught up with Rakie to chat about the enduring pull of crime dramas, how the boring trope of dead, naked woman needs to jog on, the need for more menopausal women on telly, the joy of Wales, learning Welsh – and underestimating Wales at your peril. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lots of returning BBC comedy series this month, but we still had time to take a look at the finale of Line of Duty, Viewpoint and its ensuing shitshow, Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown and Ian Wright's Home Truths. We tackle one of those newly-returned series, This Time With Alan Partridge, and Hannah's also been laughing at Leonardo, although not sure that's what they were hoping when they made it. And Mick's been learning about makeup and its glamorous history in, er, MakeUp: A Glamourous History. Tuck in!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices