Standard Issue

A podcast by women. For women. About everything.

@MicksterNoonan @thatdunleavy @inspireajen

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Bloody lovely stuff from our bloody lovely boss.

[Sarah Millican @SarahMillican75]

In 2014, I was annoyed standing in front of magazine racks at train stations that there was nothing that appealed to me. The usual ‘women’s magazines’ didn’t speak to me and were too centred on beach bodies, white trousers and which fruit my body resembled.

Add to this that I love women. Ever since I worked for WHSmith and then the Jobcentre, I’ve been surrounded with women at work. When I got into comedy, those numbers dropped dramatically (they’re better now hoo-fucking-ray). So I started setting up small work places full of women. My TV series, my new material gig, writers’ rooms, my radio shows. Women, women, women.

I decided to do something about the lack of magazines for women like me (whatever that means) and thus create another all-women work space, a healthy, more interesting and feminist alternative to the magazines that were out there.
And thus began Standard Issue Magazine, edited by the fantastic Mickey Noonan. We were lucky enough to have some incredible women write wonderful articles for us. And the whole thing was run by 12 awesome women.

In 2017, I decided it was time to move with the times and we became a podcast @StandardIssueUK. The team: Mickey Noonan, Hannah Dunleavy and Jen Offord have since created over a thousand brilliant episodes of a podcast that treats women like they have brains, because we do, and are interested in the world. We are for women, by women, about everything. And we shine a light on some incredible sports women, journalists, playwrights, entrepreneurs, heck, all sorts of women from all walks of life who have something to say.

Standard Issue is a podcast championing women's voices, and packed with interviews, news, film, opinion and humour.

And on this International Women’s Day, I’d love you to give it a listen. Or comment on this post if you have listened. Or share it with your followers. It all helps. We hope you enjoy it. We’re super proud of it.

I feel this way about this project every day but today feels like a good day to shout about excellent women and their work.

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Why did fans riot when they won? Is a degree as useful as it used to be? How badly are pregnant women treated in maternity wards? Where's London's newest museum? And who's become one of the world's highest paid female athletes? Find out in this week's BT. https://t.co/egiHsf2aub

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Sexualising, objectifying or just having a nose at women's bodies? Go for your algorithmic life, lads. Talking about women’s bodily health? It’s a snide and sneaky no from social media, as our @MicksterNoonan finds out for this week's Substack.
https://t.co/GhffupAfeA

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

🎥RATED OR DATED: Hudson Hawk (1991)🎥
Is it a bird, is it a fish, is it a pig, or is it swinging on a star? Turns out, Michael Lehmann’s Bruce Willis vehicle is everything and nothing much at once. But is its recent renaissance understandable?
Find out: https://t.co/Pkt69MEPHA

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Fewer woman now identify as straight. Why? That's what @BovyMaltz's new book The Last Straight Woman sets out to discover. She chats to Hannah about how trends, empathy for LGBT people, a rejection of gender roles & bad PR for men may be playing a part. https://t.co/ydhCFpteGm

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

💄 FRESH PODCAST: The price of pretty 💉
Alex Light is a rare voice of sanity amid the relentless madness that is beauty standards. She chats to Mick about finding compassion for ourselves and other women in how we navigate these toxic waters.
Listen here: https://t.co/Pkt69MEPHA

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Coming up in next week's podcasts...

[Ali @AJ_F612]

*screams in ER nurse*

[Louise Jensen Duffy (also Ernest Jensen) @LouiseWeebe]

Always try to be helpful. Instead of saying “fuck off”, say “how can I help you fuck off”. It costs nothing to be kind.

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Happiest of birthdays to the best of bosses. 🫶

[Sarah Millican @SarahMillican75]

This is what 51 looks like. Happy birthday to me.

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In today's podcast, Jen chats to Dating educator, social worker, and podcaster Lalala Let Me Explain, about new campaign Close the Consent Gap, and the harm that the power imbalances in age-gap relationships with the under-20s can cause. Dig in! https://t.co/jGQV0DL8AS

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In this week's Substack, @inspireajen reflects on @cafcwomen's promotion and what it tells us about the women's game. https://t.co/mqm6pvQHjJ

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In today's Bush Telegraph, join us for a little tour of the devolved Governments and for a look at one of the worst rulings in an English court in a long time. Bring a Chris or a talking animal, or indeed anything but a woman over 60. Tuck in! https://t.co/GKfdKdQmsG

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In this week's Rated or Dated we're questioning morals, accents, and whether Nicolas Cage can ever laugh like a normal person, as we revisit 2001's Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Dig in! https://t.co/ZSbF4W1CPM

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Waiting On A Friend, the debut novel of journalist Natalie Adler, is set in the crucible of the early years of the AIDS crisis in New York. Natalie chats to Hannah about what inspired her to write it, a lost generation, and Old "affordable" NYC. Tuck in! https://t.co/ZSbF4W1CPM

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

What's coming up in next week's podcasts? A lot...

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Want some TV recommendations? Yeah, you do. In this month's Outside The Box, we're talking about Legends, Ponies, Widow's Bay and Believe Me, as well as good and bad news about what's to come in 2026, and what should probably never have been on TV at all. https://t.co/ZSbF4W1CPM

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Number 5 is alive! Or is he? In this week's Rated or Dated, Hannah and Jen talk about 1986's Short Circuit, its inappropriate casting and why the love interests have the same haircut. Tuck in! https://t.co/ZSbF4W1CPM

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

💦FRESH POD: Virginia Mendoza’s search for water💧
Mick chats with Virginia about water & how it connects us to our oldest ancestors – from where we were all born in Africa to migration, from myth-making & religion to our relationship with water today.
https://t.co/ONuWXcNXbN

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In today's podcast Jen chats to Gillian Best about her new book, Chronic: Understanding Pain, as well as chronic pain, how to navigate it, its impact on women, and why it’s more than a medical issue. Dig in! https://t.co/ZSbF4W1CPM

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

We've got loads of great stuff coming up on Standard Issue. Like what? Like this!