Without living in the UK myself, it is difficult for me to separate the exceptional cases from the general trend. What I can say is that in America, things that would have seemed exceptional ten and twenty years ago have become depressingly commonplace.

Also, from an epistemological perspective, you almost have to use the exceptional cases to spot the trend while they are still exceptional. Once they become commonplace, we stop noticing them. They are no longer new, so they are no longer news.