Standard Issue For All Women

Hello and welcome to the standard issue podcast, Hannah here, right at the top, which always

means we're doing things a bit differently this week. It is only a bit differently. For

reasons that I won't bore you with, there's not a bush telegraph. Although I can do a condensed

version in which I say that we were absolutely delighted to see that Aaron Banks lost his

Russian libel case against journalist Carol Cadwaleda, which is not just great news for her,

but for free speech and journalism as a whole. So if you find yourself missing BT,

just imagine Jen and I chanting Carol, Carol, Carol for about 15 minutes.

We do, however, have a lot of other great stuff this week. Mickey is talking to

writer of the moment and forget horses that's straight from Oprah Winfrey's mouth,

Leyla Motley to talk about her debut novel. Nightcrawling follows Chiara and Oakland teen,

fighting to keep her life together in any way she can, which leads to her being sexually

exploited by the police. It is, upsettingly and unsurprisingly, loosely based on a real-life story.

And Leyla was just 17 when she wrote it. 17. What the fuck have I been doing with my life?

Well, here's what I've been doing for 20 minutes of it. And it was indeed time very well spent,

because also this week is a conversation I had with access Shenade Matthews about the madhouse,

which opens in the West End today and stars Shenade, Bill Paulman and David Harbour.

We talk about dysfunctional families, death and money, and why Marsha Falkinder,

the real-life politician that Shenade plays in the crown, really deserves a TV drama of her own.

In Jenny of the Blocks, Jen's chatting about the ongoing stories of abuse and gymnastics,

and its high fives all round in cycling. And in rated or dated, we step up to the plate to watch

in 1992's A League of Their Own, which also stars Bill Paulman, a show opening in the West End

...