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Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: today, as part of 大象传媒 Radio 1's Big Weekend, we hear from Hackney. Ashley and Raj both grew up there and became friends at school. They're still friends today, and plan a future as neighbours, competing in lawnmower races in their shared garden.

The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not 大象传媒 interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.