The Listening Project - The Power of Chat

Fi Glover presents four conversations between strangers talking to each other and exchanging stories about their experience of life in lockdown - primary school head teachers from opposite ends of the country exchange notes and discuss their hopes and fears for school re-openings; a young Polish mother and an experienced local teacher talk about their contrasting lives as well as the things they have in common; an out-of-work lorry driver and the man who works for a charity which delivers food parcels to those in need like him, discuss their past lives and present; and two young students exchange positive notes on living in lockdown with cancer and HIV respectively.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Mohini Patel

Published on Sunday, 17th May 2020.

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We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the The Listening Project webpage.