Standard Issue Podcast

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/adchoices

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 and above patrons, including a really very convincing argument about why we should all be playing golf. Get involved at patreon.com/standardissue.

Tickets and info for Susan’s tour can be found at susancalman.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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) on their head.

Jen chats to Anna about “no” as a complete sentence, why when it comes from a woman, the word is often understood as a provocation, and the many other ways in which society expects us to diminish ourselves.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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: traumedised. They feel traumedised.)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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!’ in JOTB.

Don’t have nightmares, do sleep with your sweaty bum out of the duvet. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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 megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 police forces are struggling to get it under control.

You can join the Standard Issue membership club here:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 byelection, with spam-faced clown Nigel Farage the biggest joke of all. 

There’s also chatGPT, a stopped clock in a memorial pool, and, what’s that, a glimmer of hope for England’s maternity system? Could it be true? IS ANYTHING TRUE ANYMORE?

And here are those links Hannah promises:

"Maybe I flew too close to the sun": https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2026/aug/01/playbooks-plagiarism-pigs-head-new-claims-surrounding-cambridge-professor-jason-arday

"It's very rare that academics refuse to talk to the press": https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/04/journalist-questioned-by-police-for-investigating-cambridge/

Charity casts doubt on volunteering record: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/03/cambridge-professor-accused-plagiarism-loses-key-ally-uk/

"We're talking about academia here. I didn't murder somebody”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78gmp7zylvo

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“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 film in the Mission: Impossible franchise gets Rated or Dated.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices