Yes racial attacks are on the increase. We have a nasty cycle going on. A strong, unified, unbiased populace are more likely hold their masters to account for their behaviour, therefore it is in the interests of government ( Tory, Labour whoever) to drip feed us stories which blame one another for our woes- so we have ' immigrants coming over here taking our jobs', 'immigrant coming here and claiming our benefits', 'Muslims refusing to integrate', people wearing thing we don't wear so they must be up to no good' etc etc ad nauseum. At the same time we distract people form their misery by showing them shiny things that they want, whilst simultaneously dumbing them down via reality TV, other media and education (or lack of proper) to be more materialistic and less discerning about good values such as an inclusive and fair society. This normalises delinquent behaviour towards people who aren't the same group as the perpetrators, the scapegoats, and we are now in the unhappy scenario of it being very socially acceptable in some quarter to be a violent and aggressive racist / homophobe / xenophobe or misogynist. that in turn makes minority groups very nervous, fight back and strengthens the divisions. By virtue of human nature we are interested in sensationalist stories, so the news that a man was killed in a racist attack attracts way more attention than the fact that my Jewish Mum, my Catholic Dad had dinner the other week with some Muslim, Zoaroastrian, christian and their Rasta friend because nothing sensational or bad happened. Couple this with dodgey political decisions in the middle east which led to a surge in fundamentalism, and racial and religious tensions will be high. It's a self fulfilling prophesy, divide and conquer. We all have bigger fish to fry than tearing chunks out of each other, but we are being steered down a very contrived path towards exactly that.