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]

🎥 RATED OR DATED: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 🎬
Steven Spielberg’s swashbuckling, whip-cracking, quip-cracking archaeologist Indiana Jones’s first adventure was beating the Nazis to the lost Ark of the Covenant.
How's it looking 45 years on?
https://t.co/M7ksEKva1s

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Social media platforms are systematically censoring women talking about our bodies. Mick chats to Clio Wood, co-founder of the CensHERship campaign, about exactly what’s happening, why it’s happening and its very many negative impacts.
Listen here: https://t.co/M7ksEKva1s

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

Seeing some of the embarrassingly hateful reactions to Starmer's resignation today, I thought it was worth resharing this.

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[Sam @SamCKx]

If Keir Starmer does resign, history will look back on his reign and scratch its head as to why the hell he was so hated.

On paper, he's probably delivered more to working British people in such a short time than any PM for decades.

After inheriting an absolute mess: NHS waiting lists fallen. Worker's rights improved. Rail operators nationalised. Improved relations with EU and improved UK's global reputation. Removed non-dom tax status. Halved childcare costs. Boosted state pensions. Lowest homicide rate in 50 years. Lifted 550k children out of poverty. Immigration vastly reduced.

We are in the age of billionaire funded misinformation, whose sole purpose is to topple democratically elected leaders, and insert leadership that favours the wealthy elites over the working people. Looks like the game plan is working...

[Paul Bronks @SlenderSherbet]

When I die and get reborn as a cat, you won't know it's me but there will be signs.

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Following the UK launch of children’s bike brand Woom, Jen chats to senior marketing manager Christina Pallanch about modelling an active lifestyle for girls, staying fit as a mum, and top tips for picking a bike and getting your youngster on it. Dig in! https://t.co/rw9cp2rHTX

[Lin 🇫🇮 @Lfromthenorth]

A 17 year old girl, with 2‰ blood alcohol level, gets raped by 3 men outside of a hospital.

All charges dropped bc judge claims "if 3 men bring you to some brushes, it should be obvious what's about to happen", and the girl is ordered to pay 16 000 euros for legal costs.

This is the Finnish justice system. 😶

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

🎥 FRESH FLICKING: The Ballad of Wallis Island 🎬
Charming, melancholic, funny and ever-so British, Tim Key and Tom Basden’s tale of two men stuck in the past and on an island is Hannah’s pick for this month’s Flicking.
Listen here: https://t.co/M7ksEKva1s

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

🗞 BUSH! Telegraph 📣
@thatdunleavy and @MicksterNoonan can’t say FFS loud enough as Assisted Dying bill returns from the dead. And just how good an idea is the blanket banning of social media for under 16s? Still, reading is up and the Wombles are back.
https://t.co/HaEMyQ4CWo

[Martin Lewis @MartinSLewis]

Whenever I see a stream of horrendous abuse in my feed, I always check and often its because a prominent female politician or broadcaster has included me in a post, and I'm seeing the replies to them. Purely anecdotally they seem far nastier than replies to men in similar positions. What a horrible state of affairs. How depressing.

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In this week's Rated or Dated, we revisit 1981's The Great Muppet Caper. Can it top @ThatDunleavy’s love for The Muppet Christmas Carol? What has @Inspireajen’s daughter written in her notes? And what has @MicksterNoonan got on her feet? Dig in! https://t.co/JUlVaLI7kp

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Set in Trinidad in 1956, Driftwood is the debut play of actor Martina Laird and is on now London's Kiln Theatre. She chats to Hannah about why Trinidad's history is England's history, The Little Mermaid, and the night they sat near each other in a theatre. https://t.co/WMUqV2GwOS

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In today's podcast, @inspireajen chats to journalist @kvlmason about accusations of misconduct in football, the options legally available to clubs, alienation of female fans, and whether misogyny really is rife in the men’s game. Dig in! https://t.co/JUlVaLI7kp

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

🌾 FRESH POD 🎭
Liv Hill made her TV debut in the BBC’s remarkable Three Girls back in 2017, aged just 16 and is currently onstage as Jane in Ava Pickett’s 1536. Mick chats to Liv about trickle-down politics, ugly choices and powerful roles.
Listen here: https://t.co/HaEMyQ4CWo

[Jen Offord @inspireajen]

I'm running the London Marathon next year for @samaritans in memory of my brother, Stephen. If you read my book or any articles I wrote about losing a loved one to suicide, or listened to my @thegriefcast episode, I'd be so grateful if you sponsored me https://t.co/jjc7dUWEHL

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

🗞 BUSH! Telegraph 📣
@inspireajen & @MicksterNoonan talk thick as mince headlines, more body ‘correcting’ jabs, World Cup nonsense, online child sex abuse and women being harassed by men on trains – no wonder British women are fuming.
Listen here: https://t.co/HaEMyQ4CWo

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

Would we want to live in a Utopia where everyone is killed at 30? Would we run? Would we dress like we were in Pan's People? Find out in this week's Rated or Dated, as we watch 1976's Logan's Run. https://t.co/JUlVaLI7kp

[Sarah Millican @SarahMillican75]

I don’t know if you know that I run a podcast. @StandardIssueUK is 9 years old today and began as an online magazine in 2014.

It started because I was bored of what women’s magazines offered me. I asked around and it seemed like a huge amount of women weren’t being catered for. So we started the magazine which then morphed into a podcast in 2017.

Standard Issue covers news, film, culture, sport, everything. So, if you’re interested in what’s happening for women in the world, you should definitely join us and tune in.

We are on Spotify and all the usual podcasty places. It’s funny, it’s smart, I think you’ll like it. The team you’ll hear are L-R Hannah Dunleavy, Jen Oxford and Mickey Noonan.

Celebrate our 9th birthday with us, by giving us a listen. Thanks to those who already listen. You’re clearly brilliant people.

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

In today's podcast, Jen chats to director Rosie Morris abotu new short documentary, Is Mum OK, which shines a light on the achievements and struggles of some of Britain's young carers, who are dealing with responsibilities far beyond their years. https://t.co/ydhCFpteGm

[Standard Issue @StandardIssueUK]

There's loads of great stuff coming up next week. Like what? Like this!