PODCAST
Boston Calling
by BBC World Service
How the world looks through American eyes, and the myriad and unexpected ways that the world influences the United States.
Episodes
-
Last call
After almost eight years on the air, and more than 400 episodes, this is the final episode of Boston Calling with Marco Werman. We have three unforgettable stories that touch on some of the central themes of the program: justice and race, the environment and immigration. We have some heartfelt...
-
In retrospect
In the penultimate edition of Boston Calling, we’re looking back at some of the moments, from the past eight or so years, that have shaped the world and this programme. We start in 2012, also an election year, finding out how the role of the US presidency and American power looked to the world...
-
Black lives matter
The homicide of George Floyd has led to widespread protests in the US. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been hitting the streets daily, from Minneapolis to New Orleans, and from New York to Los Angeles. But the protests aren’t limited to the US. For the past few weeks, protests and...
-
I can't breathe
The homicide of George Floyd, an unarmed man, while he was in police custody has sparked demonstrations and protests in the US and across the globe. From London and Berlin to Australia and the Netherlands, thousands marched in solidarity after a video showed a white police officer kneeling on...
-
Point of entry
The pandemic has not stopped children and teenage migrants from showing up alone at the US border, hoping to apply for asylum. But US policy has changed dramatically, and critics say that the Trump administration is using the pandemic as a way to halt any entries across the border. Also,...
-
Looking out for you
The race to find a dependable vaccine for Covid-19 is on. More than 100 laboratories worldwide are competing to try to get there first, and that makes it more likely that a way to halt the pandemic will be found sooner. But with so many competing interests, it's far from clear that all of the...
-
The world stage
We all have similar questions about the coronavirus pandemic. When will it end? How do we recover? Is it safe to visit friends and extended family? Most of us look to medical experts and our elected officials for guidance. Historically, as a superpower, the US has taken a lead in times of global...
-
Extra credit
Adam Carter was awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to teach English to teenagers in Beijing. When the coronavirus outbreak hit, his school there was shut down. Carter is still teaching his students remotely, but he also came up with an idea for a side project: trying to broker deals of...
-
Life goes on
Government officials and health experts are starting to imagine what life will look like when we venture out again. Former US Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem says that we may emerge into an altered world of nose swabs at airports, face shields for fans at sporting events, airline…
more -
Coronavirus conundrums
Strict physical distancing measures in response to the novel coronavirus have disrupted economies and lives in massive ways. But as shutdown measures stretch from weeks into months, many communities across the globe are now wrestling with when and how to relax those policies. Experts around the...
-
Keeping faith
The coronavirus has fundamentally changed how we live our lives, but perhaps most heartbreakingly, how we deal with death. Around the world, centuries-old burial rituals have been abandoned. Even something as simple as a hug for a grieving friend is now essentially out of bounds. We look at how...
-
Coronavirus coping
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, medical equipment is in short supply, and health workers in countries around the globe have had to ration care. Now, doctors and nurses in New York are treating patients in overcapacity intensive care units with dwindling supplies of equipment. The issue…
more -
In this together
The US military is increasingly assisting the US government's domestic response to the coronavirus pandemic. So far, the military is setting up field hospitals in Seattle, New York, and Boston and has put additional units on prepare-to-deploy orders. US Secretary of Defence, Mark Esper, has…
more -
This pandemic life
The US has been planning for catastrophe on a national scale since the beginning of the Cold War and the advent of the nuclear age. Now, with the new coronavirus, the US and the world face a very different challenge, but the approach is similar. Author Garrett Graff examined this intersection...
-
Refugee island
Nine years have passed since Syrians took to the streets to demand the ouster of the government of Bashar al-Assad. During those nine years, thousands of lives have been lost, many have been displaced and much of the country is in ruins. For many Syrians, displacement has led them to look for a…
more -
Pandemic
The World Health Organization says every effort is now needed to contain the coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Some nations have well-developed plans for dealing with the outbreak of a new virus, others are just starting to catch up. Jane Halton, the former health secretary of Australia, and a past...
-
Exchange and influence
Late last year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology signed a five-year extension of a multimillion-dollar partnership with Skolkova, a Russian technology research institute. This partnership has long raised espionage fears among foreign policy experts and the FBI. The contract renewal was a...
-
Every 30 seconds
Approximately every 30 seconds, a United States citizen of Latin American descent, reaches the voting age of 18. This year, 32 million Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote. Latinos are one of the largest demographic groups in the US. We’ll learn about the history of the ‘Latino vote’ in…
more -
Leading the way
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has made a pledge to dole out $10 billions worth of grants to help slow down climate change. Environmentalists tell us where the money should go. Also, an aid worker knows first hand the danger of landmines; American basketball fans say Slovenia superstar Luka Doncic is...
-
Covid-19
There are many considerations to take into account when naming a new disease. We hear about some of the pitfalls the World Health Organization avoided when it came up with Covid-19. Also, an American couple tries to make the best of their cruise ship quarantine; some Chinese people travelling in...
-
First in the nation
If there’s one lesson to be taken from the Iowa caucuses, it’s that elections and smartphone apps don’t always mix well. An app that was developed to count caucus-goers in the state malfunctioned, and caused major disruption. Officials say no hacking was involved but it has raised questions about...
-
Two sides to a story
Carbon dioxide isn't the only greenhouse gas that's a threat to the planet. Nitrous oxide, emitted when farmers fertilise their fields, is a growing climate change threat as well. We find out about an environmentally-friendly potential solution. Also, in Africa the agriculture sector wants more...
-
Taking responsibility
An impeachment trial is a rare event in the United States but there is something unprecedented about this one. President Trump's troubles are rooted in his approach to US foreign policy and diplomacy. The president is accused of pressuring Ukraine's president to investigate his political rival…
more -
Persian projects
The Trump administration insists that the president has a firm legal basis for ordering the attack that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Legal scholars, though, are skeptical. We look into the American constitutional issues surrounding the president’s use of force. Also, the United States...
-
Power balance
Retired US Army General David Petraeus has vast military and intelligence experience in the Middle East. He led US troops during some of the most critical years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, with the assasination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, General Petraeus has some thoughts about the...
-
Hindsight is 2020
It's almost been 20 years since the war in Afghanistan started. The Afghan people want a solution and the US is trying to make a deal. Everyone wants to forge a pathway towards peace and stop the threat of nearly daily violence. Currently, peace talks between the US and the Taliban are developing...
-
Screen time
Several former contractors, who did content moderation work for Facebook, are suing in Europe over the psychological trauma they say the work has caused them. The lawsuit is bringing new scrutiny to the content moderation ecosystem that Facebook and other platforms rely on to police what gets...
-
The allegiance edition
Susan Rice, National Security Advisor and UN ambassador during the Obama administration, joins us to talk about impeachment, Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine, and the enduring legacy of Benghazi. Also, we look into President Trump’s latest executive order, which relies on a controversial definition...
-
Ukraine under pressure
At the center of the impeachment showdown in the US, is nearly 400 million dollars in military aid that the Trump administration temporarily withheld from Ukraine. At a US military base in western Ukraine, business goes on as usual but Ukrainian military veterans are worried that they may be…
more -
Wars and peace
A US hacker faces criminal charges for allegedly helping North Korea launder money through cryptocurrencies, but those who know him have a different story to tell. Also, President Donald Trump’s long obsession over tariffs; the long, tempestuous history of NATO; the fight against drug cartels...
-
First Peoples
Some people identify as Native American based on family stories. There is a more respected way to check and it does not involve a DNA test. Also, a proposed law would give indigenous people in Canada more say over their own land; during World War Two the US government built Japanese internment...
-
The innovation edition
Cooling down our addiction to air conditioning by building a more energy efficient AC. Also, it’s a “wind, wind, wind” for cargo ships powered by sails; engineering students in Los Angeles design quality-of-life solutions for refugee camps; a navigation app helps drivers get around Nigeria; the...
-
Unwanted attention
Impeachment hearings have entered the public phase in Washington DC. Congress is investigating allegations that President Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to pressure it to deliver political favours. But in Ukraine they are focused on the conduct of their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a now...
-
It’s automatic
Farmers in the US face a labour shortage, so they’re turning to new technology to fill the gap. Also, meet “Pepper", a robot that’s already replacing thousands of jobs around the world; a researcher from Silicon Valley finds a robot in his hotel room and discovers a potential security breach; how...
-
Power and diplomacy
The impeachment inquiry has exposed some of the ways in which the US diplomatic corps feels undermined and undervalued by the Trump administration. We visit two US universities training a future generation of US diplomats to find out whether students there are reconsidering their career choice....
-
Who's to judge?
About 4,000 Liberians could be at risk of deportation after the Trump administration terminated their legal status. Earlier this month, they finally got their day in federal court in Massachusetts. They’re still waiting for a ruling, but in the meantime, many of these Liberian families are stuck…
more -
Consciously green
In recent years, it’s become fairly common for people to take their own bags when they go grocery shopping. But for the past 18 months, Philippa Robb and her son, Haydn, have also been bringing their own containers, to avoid food packaging and other single-use plastics. Now Philippa’s goal is to...
-
Covert affairs
An unauthorized Muslim immigrant from Uzbekistan was offered a deal by the FBI: You can remain in the US, but only if you'll spy on your fellow Muslims. He did, but then he decided he wanted to stop. Also, the Trump administration declassified thousands of documents that reveal details of...
-
Who's listening?
When US presidents get on the phone to speak with foreign leaders, staff are on hand to take diligent notes. But is there a set procedure of how calls with foreign dignitaries are handled? Tom Blanford from the National Security Archives in Washington, DC says that Trump’s style has been very...
-
The evangelical edition
As the 2020 presidential campaign in America heats up, evangelical Christians will be getting more and more attention in the US news media. They always do during election season as they have long been seen as reliable Republican voters. But people who identify as evangelical or born-again...
-
The Mississippi: Pushed to the brink
The Mississippi river could be called America’s inland hydro highway. It carries US goods and commodities out to the rest of the world and allows trade flows to return. But up and down the Mississippi River, there are new pressures. The strain on the river system is only becoming more acute with...
-
Into the thaw (Part two)
How quickly will Antarctica’s massive Thwaites Glacier melt, and what will that mean for global sea levels and coastal cities? Scientists spent several weeks aboard the research ship Nathaniel B Palmer, studying Thwaites as part of a five-year, international effort to try to answer those pressing...
-
Into the thaw (Part one)
Melting of Antarctica's massive Thwaites Glacier could add 60 centimetres to global sea level rise in the next 50 to 100 years, and unlock far more in the years beyond. A voyage by an icebreaker to the remote glacier's face laid the groundwork for a 5-year international research effort to try to...
-
400 years
This year marks four hundred years since slave traders arrived at the Virginia colony with the first captive Africans to be enslaved in what would become the US. It was the start of something that would come to define and divide America. Ghana has declared 2019 the “Year of Return” for African...
-
20 years of Putin
This month marks 20 years since Vladimir Putin first became prime minister of Russia. Now serving his fourth term as Russia’s president, Putin has increased and consolidated his power over the past two decades. We look back at the events that have shaped his leadership and the course of his…
more -
The long wait
The US and the Taliban are reportedly inching closer to a breakthrough in peace talks. But the Afghan government has been notably missing from these negotiations. Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the US, Roya Rahmani, says that the Afghan government's position regarding the talks is that...
-
Scoring points
The US-China trade war has been going on for almost two years now. Both countries have imposed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each other, and that number has only been growing. Right now, we may be entering a new, potentially dangerous, phase of the dispute: currency warfare....
-
Means of destruction
In 1987, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. It led to the elimination of more than 2,500 nuclear missile. But as of this week, the INF treaty is no more after the Trump administration announced its withdrawal....
-
Breaking with tradition
Next month, roughly two million Muslims will travel to the holy city of Mecca for one of the most important religious rituals in Islam. As long as they are in good health and can afford it, every Muslim must complete the Hajj at least once in their lifetime. But the Hajj can only be done in Saudi...
-
Let’s talk
There are upwards of 10 million unauthorized immigrants living in the US. Many of those immigrants are children or have children studying in schools throughout the country. For them,fear of deportation and family separation is a constant reality. Students at El Colegio High School in the…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
How the world looks through American eyes, and the myriad and unexpected ways that the world influences the United States.
HOSTED BY
BBC World Service
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Boston Calling have?
Boston Calling currently has 173 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Boston Calling about?
How the world looks through American eyes, and the myriad and unexpected ways that the world influences the United States.
How often does Boston Calling release new episodes?
Boston Calling publishes regularly with 173 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Boston Calling?
You can listen to Boston Calling on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Boston Calling?
Boston Calling is created and hosted by BBC World Service.
URL copied to clipboard!