Leicester has been identified by the government as an ‘innovation cluster’. Almost as soon as it’s said the phrase starts to lose its edges. An electric bus pulls out of St Margaret’s bus station. In an upstairs room someone is still working. Someone else is teaching a teenager in their kitchen. Everyone loves a maths tutor. Ordinary families are trying hard to make things hold together. The city carries on as usual, mostly unaware of its new label. Lights appear above the shops.

autumn twilight
the last customer leaves
with a bag of mangoes

Paul Conneally
September 15th 2026
Leicester, UK