This week, we discover that the secret to success is apparently nine minutes a day. Nine minutes of what? It hardly matters. Whatever your age, whatever your problem, the answer is always the same: perfect.

We begin with a missing teacher planner, a colleague in a state of panic, and a remarkably effective system for avoiding messages in your pigeonhole. Then we turn our attention to the increasingly desperate business of promoting this podcast, which has led James into the darker corners of TikTok and a worrying fascination with AI-generated advertisements.

There's articulation training, military calisthenics, relationship advice of questionable value, and growing concern from Ben that James may be beyond saving.

Elsewhere, a sad wolf makes an appearance, four-year-old Jacob asks Ben a deeply personal question, and we finally attempt to establish what this podcast is actually supposed to be about.

We don't necessarily arrive at an answer. But we do establish that we're probably doing it wrong.

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Website: www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

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This week, we reflect on how we became friends, which apparently involved a territorial dispute over who was the funniest person in the room. Somehow, this eventually led to a podcast.

We revisit the glory days of hospital radio, including a specially commissioned jingle that hospital management didn't appreciate, and investigate whether a shopkeeper really does have more authority than a teacher when it comes to confiscating Red Bull.

There's another postcard, this time featuring an iguanodon, although getting to the postcard involves an unnecessarily lengthy account of a dinosaur-themed summer and a trip to Lyme Regis.

We also discover that neither of us started life with quite the names you might expect, leading to revelations about adoption, family history and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to choose names that wouldn't offend anyone.

In Ask Ben, a seven-year-old asks about his favourite animal, prompting a surprisingly heartfelt discussion about rabbits. And finally, another devoted listener gets in touch, although his devotion appears to be connected to selling us podcast editing software.

All this, plus questionable student logic, unsolicited emails and the growing realisation that we might not actually be making the podcast we originally intended.

Ben and James Could Do Better. And we probably should.

📧 bandjcdb@gmail.com
🌐 www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

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Ben and James receive some unsolicited advice about how to improve the podcast from someone who hasn't actually listened to it.

There's also a charity-shop shirt, an unexpectedly detailed assessment of a window at Montacute House, the return of Ask Ben and the thorny question of what Ben really thinks about primary school teachers.

Plus, James continues introducing his family to Ben via audio recording, we revisit some educational ideas that probably should remain in the past, and Ben attempts to tell the story of his mysterious illness before James has somewhere else he needs to be.

Another carefully planned episode, then.

Ben and James Could Do Better is a comedy podcast about education, work and the other things that get in the way.

📧 bandjcdb@gmail.com
🌐 www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show