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The Boston Globe

Big ideas and big debates, explained through intimate conversations with the compelling personalities who shape them. AI and biotech. Higher education and health care. Climate and sustainability. Politics and the media. Culture and culture wars. Hosted by Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung.

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All Episodes

55:34

Introducing ‘Spotlight: Snitch City’

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2025/04/17

Today, we’re sharing the first episode of the brand new podcast Spotlight: Snitch City, produced by The Boston Globe's award-winning Spotlight team.In this specific episode, you’ll find yourself on the docks of New Bedford, Massachusetts, hearing whispers about a rogue police officer harassing fishermen and stealing drugs, all of which come to a head one late night aboard a scalloping boat. The officer forces his way on board, saying an informant told him there would be drugs on board, and demands

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32:12

Why cops are addicted to confidential informants: The...

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2025/04/10

When it comes to the war on drugs, you could say the police are addicted to confidential informants. That’s the conclusion of a new Boston Globe Spotlight investigation into the pervasive and shadowy world of this police practice that is widely used and barely regulated. The story starts in New Bedford Massachusetts, where use of informants has had dramatic consequences. This week on Say More, podcast host Jazmin Aguilera speaks to Spotlight reporters Dugan Arnett and Andrew Ryan about their

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00:28:34

Say More LIVE: Mayor Wu on The Joy and Challenges of...

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2025/03/30

Being a working parent can be a rewarding joy, but it’s also an endless challenge. This week, Say More is happy to share its first LIVE show, recorded from the Boston Globe’s inaugural Working Mothers Summit in Boston. In the episode, Shirley talks to Mayor Michelle Wu about her decision to parent in public, even bringing baby Mira on stage. Then, Shirley sits down with state Attorney General Andrea Campbell about her office’s efforts to reign in social media - for the health and safety of kids

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00:25:09

Canadians are really upset, Americans should pay...

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2025/03/27

Canadian Journalist Stephen Marche says he’s experiencing the most powerful moment of Canadian politics in his lifetime. The trigger has been Donald Trump’s presidency, and his antagonistic stance towards Canada, one of the US’s closest historic allies and trading partners. On this episode of Say More, Shirley talks to Marche about the ways Canadians are reacting to Trump’s aggression, their fear and heartbreak, and what the future holds for Canada in a new political world order. Email us at

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00:29:24

How Massachusetts became the Lottery Capital of America

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2025/03/19

Massachusetts has one of the oldest and most successful publicly run lottery systems in the country. It shouldn’t surprise you that per adult, MA residents spend more on the lottery than any other state, by a wide margin. But if you dig into the numbers, the problems with the lottery system start to become visible - tickets are more likely to be bought by low-income people, and the revenue that’s generated is not distributed fairly. On Say More this week, Shirley is joined by Ian Coss, host of the

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00:22:54

Trump’s China policy? Jane Perlez says “I don’t think...

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2025/03/13

Former New York Times Beijing bureau chief Jane Perlez will pay $1 million to whoever knows what President Trump will do when it comes to China. Ok, not really, but Jane says Trump’s plans are hugely important, and anyone’s guess. Jane is now a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, and is the host of the podcast, Face-Off: The U.S. vs China. This week on Say More, Jane talks to The Boston Globe’s editorial page editor Jim Dao about why China is so important to the U.S., and what she thinks

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00:24:21

Republicans Vs. Mayor Wu. Who won?

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2025/03/07

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was called to Washington this week to answer questions about Boston’s so-called "sanctuary city” status. At a Congressional hearing, she, and 3 other blue-city mayors, were grilled by Republicans who say that Boston’s lack of collaboration with federal immigration officials puts residents in danger. Wu refuted this point, and defended her policies. On Say More this week, host Shirley Leung talks to Globe national political reporter Jim Puzzanghera about the politics of the

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00:30:36

Dr. Ashish Jha says experts made serious mistakes...

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2025/02/27

The first days of the COVID pandemic feel like a movie looking back: we watched in horror as the virus ravaged China, Italy, and Iran - and wondered if we would be next. Now, five years later, we know what happened: the economy suffered from a prolonged shutdown, more than one million Americans died, and political polarization reached an all-time high. One person leading us through the chaos was physician Ashish Jha, the Dean of the Brown School of Public Health. He was a regular contributor to TV

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00:26:17

Murder or Suicide? Breaking the Sandra Birchmore Story

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2025/02/20

The story of Sandra Birchmore may never have made headlines if it wasn’t for Laura Crimaldi, a Boston Globe reporter who spent years following the trail of Birchmore’s life and tragic death. While Birchmore’s death was originally ruled as a suicide, follow up investigations showed she was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a married Stoughton police officer, starting when she was a minor. This new line of investigation uncovered years of mistreatment by multiple officers and had Sandra’s

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00:25:21

Boston’s Mayor Had a Baby In an Election Year, Will...

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2025/02/12

Michelle Wu is the first Boston Mayor to have a baby while in elected office, and while it was unprecedented, it wasn’t much of a news story. Pregnancy is increasingly normalized for powerful women, which is a sign of progress. But Wu’s decision to forgo maternity leave brings up important questions about the politics of motherhood: Can a champion of paid family leave justify not taking it herself? Is having a baby an asset or a liability on the campaign trail? Three working mothers – Globe

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00:22:46

Alcohol is Actually Bad for You, and other Lessons...

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2025/02/06

Surveys show that more and more Americans put down the bottle this January to try out drinking less. For some people, the goal was sobriety, and for others, moderation. Researchers are finding that alcohol consumption is going down in general across the population after spiking during the pandemic. Helping the cause are some stark recommendations from top health officials saying alcohol can cause cancer. Shirley takes a trip to a non-alcoholic bottle shop in Boston to try some mocktails, and later

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00:26:19

Jenny Boylan on Humanizing the Trans Experience

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2025/01/30

Writer Jenny Boylan is perplexed about why trans people “finding their peace” has resulted in such outrage from much of the American public. She moves forward in the only way she knows how: by continuing to write and tell stories about the humanity of the trans experience. Jenny transitioned 25 years ago and in that time she has seen the culture change dramatically when it comes to treatment of trans people. In some ways it’s gotten better, and in some ways it’s gotten worse. Jenny talks to

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00:26:16

Are We Ready for Trump 2.0? A Boston Globe Roundtable

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2025/01/23

It happened. Trump was sworn in as 47th president of the United States, as only the second person in history to serve non-consecutive terms. Trump laid out a detailed list of priorities during his speech, but it’s still unclear what he will actually do, and what the Trump 2.0 coalition will look like. Will he stick to his populist roots? Or continue cozying up to billionaires? Will we see a new resistance to Trump from the left? Or a great resignation? For this week’s episode of the Say More

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00:30:15

THE COMMENT SECTION: When Pets Die. Readers Shared...

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2025/01/16

You wrote in, and we read everything. Say More’s THE COMMENT SECTION is a monthly exploration of the many forms of reader engagement found within the pages of Boston Globe Opinion. This week, we talked to columnist Marcela García about her pet stories. Recently, Marcela covered a fraught court case about pet euthanasia, and hundreds of readers wrote in about their own experiences. We also checked in with Globe Letters editor Matthew Bernstein to hear some of his favorite letters of the month. Email

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00:26:22

How Will We Remember Biden? Transformation or Failure?

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2025/01/09

In modern US politics, no one’s star has risen and fallen more times than Joe Biden’s. His life has been defined by the worst personal tragedy and the greatest professional success. After decades in politics, Biden leaves office with arguably his biggest failure, the loss of the presidency to Donald Trump. Will this final failure define the Biden presidency? Or will we think about him differently with time? This week on Say More editorial page editor Jim Dao talks to Biden biographer Frank Foer

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00:27:22

When Power and Diversity Clash at Harvard

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2025/01/02

The last 12 months were tumultuous on Harvard’s campus: pro-Palestinian encampments took over the quad, students were suspended, and a university president lost her job. If those things weren’t enough, the story coincided with conservative activism happening throughout the country working against diversity programs - with a particular eye on Harvard. Could the events of the last year foreshadow the future of DEI on campus and beyond? This week on Say More, Shirley talks to Ilya Marritz, the

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00:34:57

RERUN: Amy Tan is Obsessed with Birds

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2024/12/26

Author Amy Tan doesn’t just watch birds, she “feels the life within them.” Amy’s new book, “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” takes us into her daily journal, drawing and musing on the lives of birds in her backyard in California. Shirley Leung talks to Amy about her breakthrough novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” the agony of fiction writing, and whether she considers herself an Asian-American writer or just a writer. Throughout her career, Amy has written extensively about mother-daughter relationships,

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00:24:30

Health Insurance Anger is Boiling Over

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2024/12/19

The murder of a healthcare CEO has led to an overdue conversation about health insurance in the US. The reaction to the news is revealing a visceral anger about the unfairness and dysfunction of how we pay for healthcare. What makes our system so frustrating for people? And what are the solutions? On Say More this week, host Shirley Leung turns to Casey Ross, an investigative reporter with Stat News and Dr. Vikas Saini, a cardiologist who runs the Lown Institute here in Massachusetts. Email us at

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00:25:47

The Reporter Behind the Shelby Hewitt Story

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2024/12/12

Usually it’s easy to tell a con artist’s motivations. Some do it for money, power or access. Some, however, do it for reasons hard to understand. The Boston Globe recently exposed an incomprehensible con: a 33-year old-woman who posed as a destitute teenage high school student. Her name is Shelby Hewitt. She enrolled in public high school under different names and created the identities of two social workers to legitimize a fake harrowing backstory. But last year it all came crashing down, leaving

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00:20:14

Josh Foer Wants Us to be Curious about Everything

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2024/12/05

If there is one thing to know about writer and entrepreneur Josh Foer: he wants to learn EVERYTHING. Tying his projects together is an endless curiosity about our world. On this episode of Say More, editorial page editor Jim Dao journeys to Somerville to visit one of Josh’s projects: Lehrhaus, the world’s first Jewish tavern and house of learning. They discuss one of Josh’s other ventures, the Atlas Obscura project and his latest book about the weirdest wildlife on the planet. Email us at

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137 results

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