Rishi Dastidar

Risk Patterns (selected)

2.

We like the idea of the South.
Until it knocks on our door.

4.

The thing that really pulled me up:
half the country has fled. 50%, gone,
in less than two years.

Did all of them choose to do that?
Is it actually a choice when someone
shoves a gun in your face and says �go�?

7.

You know we�re an island, right?
How do you think most people
got here first? They didn’t fall
from the trees, like some monkey-shaped
conker, or spring up fully formed
from the heather. Some sort of sea crossing
may have been involved.

9.

I have recurring dream,
in which I stand on the table
at the dinner party I’m attending,
say �I’m an immigration jihadist.
Let them all in. Let’s start the
Throw Open All The Doors Party.�
I wake up, and silently chide myself
for being braver asleep than awake.

10.

I am an expat.

You are a refugee.

They are a migrant.

11.

Naming the programme Mare Nostrum.
The fucking cheek. It�s their sea too.

 12.

You know the continent
is ageing rapidly? Dying in fact.
Who do you think is going to come
and look after your parents, seeing
as you don�t do extended families?

And this is the welcome you give
to the people who will be keeping
your show on the road.

13.

Refuge is not just a place.
It’s a state of mind.
A state of hope.