Episode 165: Dr Jim's Australian budget box of delights, Donald Trump's group chat gone wild and African penguins forever

On her own today (yes, poor Ben is STILL unwell), Van takes you through some highlights of Dr Jim's 2025-26 Australian budget, the insane, almost-unbelievable story of the Trump administration's "group chat" scandal, and some good news for African penguins. Yes, the budget includes actual money for women's health (hello menopause clinics!), green iron, and schools. Yes, a real journalist got added to a U.S. government Signal chat where they were planning airstrikes. And YES — for once — something good has happened for penguins. It's a bananas world, but Van is here to help you make sense of it! Please light candles and sing songs of magic that Ben can be back next week; we must not let the bananas prevail.

You can listen to Episode 165: Dr Jim's Australian budget box of delights, Donald Trump's group chat gone wild and African penguins forever online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 165: Dr Jim's Australian budget box of delights, Donald Trump's group chat gone wild and African penguins forever is an episode from "The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison by Ben Davison.

This episode is 63:03 long.

This episode was published on Mar 26, 2025.

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