Halloween is either already over or happening right now, depending on which part of the conversation you’re following. James negotiates a school disco timetable involving multiple pick-ups, drop-offs and an unexpectedly long wait outside a primary school.

Meanwhile, Ben takes issue with the “teacher voice” in staff training, and we explore the difference between letting someone finish and actually listening to them.

Eating out comes with a full medical briefing as Ben explains life with a third of a stomach, while James explains why Ben ordering food can become James’s problem. There’s also the never-ending supply of staffroom cake, the pressure to accept another helping, and a special evening with some unfortunate consequences.

A postcard promises whiskey, cigars and satisfaction guaranteed. James discovers that the other Ben and James combinations are all considerably more successful. And the site manager would quite like us to leave.

We can have ten more minutes. That should be plenty.

Got a question for Ask Ben? Whether it’s a genuine dilemma or something you’ve always wanted his questionable expertise on, email bandjcdb@gmail.com.

Visit www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com, subscribe wherever you listen or watch, and share us with someone who could do better.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

This week, Ben and James return with oversized cans of Coca-Cola, questionable television habits and a surprising amount of discussion about people called Jill.

Ben reveals his latest obsession with Hunting Hitler, recalls his days on Why Don't You...? and discovers that he appears in Russell T Davies's latest book. James questions whether Hitler really needs hunting, considers the peculiar world of TikTok advertising and pays tribute to the man responsible for a legendary Swansea Leisure Centre slide.

Meanwhile, listener Penny asks some rather sensible questions about who the podcast is actually for and why nobody seems to know it exists. Naturally, Ben and James respond by arguing with each other.

And then there's Bill Rectangle. An unsolicited email from a mysterious media organisation leads James down an unexpected rabbit hole involving a memoir, an ambitious promotional campaign and a potential new direction for the podcast.

Also featuring a postcard from Cromer, a box of fudge, some frank feedback about conversational etiquette and 53 grams of sugar.

Ben and James Could Do Better. And occasionally, they do.

Find us at www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

Email: bandjcdb@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

There's tension in the studio this week. It begins with a disagreement about how to open the podcast, escalates into an argument about the cleanliness of James's car and reaches breaking point when Ben commits the apparently unforgivable offence of cleaning James's office fridge.

Along the way, we discuss questionable Christmas jumpers, dirty coffee mugs, the rights of fridge owners and whether doing somebody a favour is necessarily a good thing.

Postcard Corner returns with some distinctly unimpressed lemurs, while Ask Ben presents possibly its most challenging question yet: why should anybody actually listen to this podcast?

And finally, we bid an unexpectedly emotional farewell to Kensuke, a persistent but remarkably courteous correspondent whose promotional emails have brought us more joy than he could possibly have imagined.

Friendships are tested, grievances are aired, and somehow we emerge stronger. Or at least with a cleaner fridge.

Get in touch: bandjcdb@gmail.com

Website: www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

Find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

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.

Get in touch: bandjcdb@gmail.com

Website: www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

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

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

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

£79 down, gym card uncollected and not a single lap swum.

Ben joined a gym five weeks ago. He still hasn't collected his membership card. James, meanwhile, has somehow actually joined a gym and gone to it, which leads to memories of running marathons, arguments about whether either of us has ever been fit, and the disturbing discovery that Ben can apparently let James finish a sentence if he really tries.

We also venture into James's increasingly ill-advised attempts to become an internet personality. There are TikToks, YouTube Shorts, approximately four viewers and some valuable feedback from a man calling himself Clem Fandango, who described James's work as "just terrible". We discuss why strangers feel compelled to tell you they hate something, whether James's teeth require professional intervention, and the important distinction between a bad joke and a bad joke that makes your eight-year-old daughter laugh.

Then there's another postcard from Montacute House, before Poppy joins us for Ask Ben with an important question: Disneyland or Centre Parcs? Ben has strong feelings about Centre Parcs, enforced jollity and sharing swimming pools with strangers.

Finally, we receive an exciting business proposition from someone who believes we "talk about GCSE pressure from the staff room side every week". Long-term listeners will immediately recognise the problem with that statement.

There's also an AI science-marking tool, two men who abandoned science A-levels, someone called Dave who may not actually be called Dave, and the inevitable collapse of a potentially lucrative partnership.

Find more from Ben and James at www.benandjamescoulddobetter.com

Email us at bandjcdb@gmail.com — genuine correspondence, complaints, business propositions and evidence that anyone is actually listening are all welcome.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

It's seven o'clock in the morning and, for reasons that James proclaims to be largely Ben's fault, we're already at work recording a podcast.

It's also been quite a week.

We can't really talk about what happened this week, although we can apparently spend quite a long time discussing what sort of window you should receive for the various possible Ofsted judgements.

Elsewhere, James reveals his previous glittering career as an Ofsted data-entry clerk, Ben ruins one of his stories, somebody unsuccessfully attempts to get into the room, and we receive another postcard from James's summer holiday.

Eight-year-old Zach asks Ben his favourite colour, which turns out to be considerably more complicated than it sounds, and we discover that Ben and James Could Do Better is apparently excellent for helping children get to sleep.

And finally, after 25 episodes, somebody has actually emailed the official podcast email address.

They reckon they can get us 20,000 viewers in a week.

Unfortunately, we didn't reply.

If now is not the time. All good.

Find us at benandjamescoulddobetter.com

Email us: bandjcdb@gmail.com

If you do, it's fairly likely we'll feature you on the show. There's not really a lot of competition at the moment.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show