fb-pixelOpinion - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

columns

JOAN VENNOCHI

North End restaurateurs’ dispute with Mayor Wu is about more than outdoor dining

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is making a political calculation about who is important and whose needs should be addressed. And it isn’t the restaurant owners.
KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR

Republicans against Trump can banish him with one trip to the ballot box

If there was ever a moment to really put country over party, it’s now: by voting, just once, for Biden.
Scot Lehigh

If Democrats are Charlie Brown, Florida is their Lucy

If Florida can be brought into play, it expands the Electoral College map in a way that’s great for the Democratic presidential nominee and ominous for the GOP standard-bearer.
JEFF JACOBY

Russia’s reported use of chemical weapons in Ukraine is another ‘red line’

Obama failed to act when Syria deployed poison gas. Biden must not make the same error.

op-eds

Peter Brown

A Red Sox parade 86 years in the making with only 72 hours to prepare

Twenty years ago, an all-star team made magic together, for Boston and for Sox fans everywhere.
Chris Breen

The day Larry Lucchino picked up the phone and offered his help

Thanks to the help and support of Larry Lucchino, my father underwent successful surgery, and my family was fortunate to have another year with him.
Alan Sokal and Richard Dawkins

Sex and gender: The medical establishment’s reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality

It is never justified to distort the facts in the service of a social or political cause, no matter how just.
Sarah Iselin

Massachusetts needs comprehensive, long-term health care planning today

If we don’t act now, we might lose our chance to further strengthen and maintain a dynamic, resilient health care system.

editorials

Can the T avoid another debacle on the next big train order?

The state awarded a contract for new Orange and Red Line trains a decade ago, and they’re not even close to completion. For frustrated riders, a lot is riding on getting it right next time.

We need to start worrying about the bomb

The horror of a nuclear attack would be unimaginable. The impact would last generations. And all of it is eminently feasible with only a fraction of the weapons that already exist in the world.

Don’t punish marijuana workers in bankruptcy proceedings

As the Biden administration drags its feet on bringing pot out of the legal shadows, employees of cannabis companies often find themselves stuck in legal gray areas, including in bankruptcy court.

letters

Cuba: desperate conditions, questionable leadership

We’ve got a decade to prepare for boomers’ long-term care. Starting now.

Southwick bullying case underscores crucial role parents play

At age 8, he saw images of starving war-torn kids. He’s seeing them again.

Meet Globe OpinionSubmit a letter to the EditorSubmit an Op-Ed

Editor's picks

PODCAST | SAY MORE WITH SHIRLEY LEUNG

The conservative war on ‘agencies that protect us’

On this week’s episode of "Say More," Emily Hammond and Devon Ombres join guest host Kimberly Atkins Stohr to discuss the attack on the administrative state.
EDITORIAL

The world needs Evan Gershkovich

As the first anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of the Wall Street Journal reporter approaches, it’s time for Moscow authorities to free him.
ANJANA SANKAR

How a ‘murder’ in Boston that didn’t happen made national news in India

Numerous media outlets in India have reported that 20-year-old Abhijeeth Paruchuru was killed and his body was dumped in a forest in Boston. The reality is different.
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

Forget the ‘doom loop.’ America’s downtowns are coming back.

Boston and other cities are figuring out how to reinvent the areas that are still struggling to recover from the pandemic.
JOAN VENNOCHI

Will Ronna McDaniel’s loyalties lie with journalism — or Trump?

The door between politics and broadcast journalism has been revolving and evolving for a long time.
IDEAS | REBECCA TAYLOR

Robert Frost and the pedagogical path less traveled

On his 150th birthday, remembering the poet who compared free verse to ‘playing tennis with the net down.’

Cartoons

Beth Wolfensberger Singer

A child’s garden of curses

The Boston Sponsorthon

Sage Stossel

The moon gets its due

Christopher Weyant

Rabbitnomics

PATRICK CHAPPATTE

Strains between Biden and Netanyahu

Christopher Weyant

Justice delayed

More from Globe Opinion

SCOT LEHIGH

Don’t count on an MCAS compromise

The Massachusetts Teachers Association’s blunder-prone leaders have incentives to stick to their guns.

RENÉE GRAHAM

Trump’s claim that he’s against a federal abortion ban is a lie

Abortion isn’t a winning issue for Republicans. That’s the only reason Trump punted — for now — on his party’s most extreme opposition to reproductive rights.

EDITORIAL

We need to start worrying about the bomb

The horror of a nuclear attack would be unimaginable. The impact would last generations. And all of it is eminently feasible with only a fraction of the weapons that already exist in the world.

MARCELA GARCÍA

The strange tale of a former Holyoke city councilor

It’s striking that he got into office in the first place, but his brief political career is a symptom of problems in Massachusetts politics.

JOAN VENNOCHI

Hillary Clinton to students on Gaza: Can we talk with, not shout at, each other?

Some students gathered outside the launch of the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Citizenship, Leadership, and Democracy at Wellesley College to protest violence in Gaza.

EDITORIAL

Don’t punish marijuana workers in bankruptcy proceedings

As the Biden administration drags its feet on bringing pot out of the legal shadows, employees of cannabis companies often find themselves stuck in legal gray areas, including in bankruptcy court.

Peter Brown

A Red Sox parade 86 years in the making with only 72 hours to prepare

Twenty years ago, an all-star team made magic together, for Boston and for Sox fans everywhere.

Chris Breen

The day Larry Lucchino picked up the phone and offered his help

Thanks to the help and support of Larry Lucchino, my father underwent successful surgery, and my family was fortunate to have another year with him.

Sign up for Globe Opinion newsletters →

SPECIAL PROJECTS

IDEAS

Blueprints for a new downtown Boston

It's time to reimagine the identity of the city's core — and we've got ideas.

When accidents happen: True stories from an ICU nurse

An interactive comic that explores how medical mistakes can happen in the chaotic environment of an ICU.

Not so fast, fashion

How to be fashionable and equitable while saving the planet from climate change.

Teens Speak

We asked. They delivered. Teens from across the country offer a candid look at how they’re navigating life, school, friendships, social media, expectations, and so much more.

Blue sky Boston: Where inspiration meets aspiration for the city’s future

Sustainable living. Gondolas. A science expo. Evaluation of student humanity. Here’s what a Boston of the future could be.
ERNESTO BARBIERI WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JESS RULIFFSON

Tenderness and brutality: True stories from an ICU nurse

An illustrated opinion piece that examines the porous border between healing and suffering in one hospital’s intensive care unit.
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

How Uphams Corner got wealthier without getting whiter

The scrappy Dorchester neighborhood has fulfilled the community activist’s dream: development without displacement.
IDEAS

Where did all the workers go?

For two years, employers have been desperate for workers — and there’s no indication the labor shortage will soon change. What are we losing — and possibly gaining — as a result?
Explore the project ➞
IDEAS | PETER THOMSON

The radical, forgotten experiment in educational integration that changed my life

In 1971, kids from Roxbury and Lincoln spent half the year attending school together in the city and the other half in the suburb. Fifty years later, I tracked down my fellow students to see how it shaped them — and whether something like it could work today.

Globe Opinion’s 2022 Top 10

The readers have spoken: Take a tour through The Boston Globe opinion section’s top 10 most read columns, editorials, cartoons, letters, and Ideas stories of 2022.
RENÉE GRAHAM

Remembering trans lives taken in 2022

Even before a gunman killed five people and injured nearly 20 last month at Club Q, a popular LGBTQ nightspot in Colorado Springs, Colo., 2022 was already a deadly year for trans and gender nonconforming people. At least 35 have been killed nationwide, most of them Black trans women.
TIMELINE

Assault on American democracy

Jan. 6, 2021, was one of the most alarming days in American history. Boston Globe Opinion columns, editorials, letters, and cartoons untangle the continuing aftermath of the attack on the US Capitol.
IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI

How the MBTA went off the rails

Nearly everything about Boston has changed in the past few decades, yet the T has the same big problem — a failure to prioritize the rider experience above all.
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

Boston was once a wildly ambitious city. It’s time to go big again.

Soaring housing costs, a broken T, and other existential problems require sweeping fixes that meet the moment.

Young people and the power of social media

Social media holds enormous power over young people. Can they find a way to navigate safely through its ever-changing landscape?

How do we memorialize the pandemic?

As the United States neared its one millionth COVID-19 related death, artists, architects, and community leaders are calling for a permanent memorial to honor all those touched by COVID. Globe Opinion asked several artists for their vision of what a COVID memorial could look like.
Explore the rest of the project →
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD

Editing the Constitution

The Constitution is undergoing massive changes in the Supreme Court. It’s time to put the founding document in the hands of the people.
ideas

The Future of Work

The past year has shattered expectations of what workdays look like. Parenting while Zooming. An uncrowded T. Wary interactions with customers. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.

The Longevity Hub

The Boston Globe Opinion section and MIT's AgeLab present The Longevity Hub, an ongoing series seeking to spark Greater Boston's transformation into the Silicon Valley of aging.
EDITORIAL

Future-proofing the presidency

Donald Trump brought our democracy to the brink and exposed its weak spots. Here’s how to thwart the next American tyrant.
EDITORIAL

A battle for affordable housing in Massachusetts

The Globe editorial board's 2020 series on the need for inclusive housing reform in Newton and across the Commonwealth.

Brave New Planet

Brave New Planet is a podcast that delves deep into the most exciting and challenging scientific frontiers, helping us understand them and grapple with their implications. Dr. Eric Lander, president and founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, is host.

The future of food

What we eat, where it comes from, and how we get it are being reimagined like never before. In this special issue, we celebrate the role of food in our communities and explore how it can be tastier, more accessible, and healthier for us and the planet.
Letters

Postcards from the pandemic

Invited to take a walk, in fact, lots of walks; dining room table repurposed — a snapshot of how readers were coping.
An archive of conversations with the experts writing thought-provoking Globe Opinion op-eds and Ideas features.

The Other swing voter

Political coverage often focuses on voters who oscillate between political parties in a few key swing states. Here we feature perspectives and opinions from and about demographics of Americans — young voters and Black and brown voters —who swing between voting and not voting.
From voter suppression to gerrymandering to foreign interference, the integrity of US elections is under attack. In a three-part weekly series, Globe Opinion examines how the nation arrived at this moment and what needs to be done to protect voting rights.
Thomas E. Patterson

Trapped: Why the GOP's death is imminent

The Republican Party is destroying itself. Thomas Patterson of the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center explains the five traps the party has set for itself and warns that the party's future is in peril without reform.

Black voices now

Globe Opinion seeks to amplify the perspectives and the voices of Black community members, scholars, activists, doctors, teachers, business leaders, students, and parents as op-ed and letter writers, and as innovators and provocateurs featured in Globe Ideas. Here we feature Black voices from the community amid the historic protests following the killing of George Floyd. We aim to amplify yet more Black voices going forward.
IDEAS

Massachusetts Works

We turn the typical model of journalism on its head — instead of focusing on what’s broken, we’re taking a look at what Massachusetts gets right.

Legal Lens documentaries

Law and documentary film may seem far apart, but they actually share many connections. With the guidance of filmmaker and producer Joseph Tovares and support from the Hewlett Foundation, 12 Harvard Law School students from eight countries have worked since January on the Legal Lens project. You can view the films here on BostonGlobe.com.

Choosing, using, and losing your health care: A policy first-aid kit

In a four-part weekly series, Globe Opinion offers a baseline assessment of health care as well as prescriptions for fixing the industry.

Journalists are not the enemy

A central pillar of President Trump’s politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather “the enemy of the people.”
National Student Essay Competition winners announced