“Online harms laws” first discussed in December are designed to give the government wide-ranging powers to act against the internet companies themselves in a bid to stop the spread of all harmful content online from child sex abuse to terrorist activity.

But the recent abuse suffered by high-profile black sports people in particular have made it important to pull this kind of abuse into the scope, and to that end the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden met with players and former players led by Jordan Henderson on Monday.

Since then, Reece James, Romaine Sawyers, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial have all been subject to similar abuse, and it is easy to think that racism is spiralling out of control.

But is it really getting worse, are the racists themselves just emboldened because they are able to get away with it?