So the fact is WE DO SELECT BY APPEARANCE - because too many BAME individuals who would be great in the RAF do not apply in the first place.
Oh we do, do we? So how on earth can you "select" people who don't make themselves available for ........errrrrr, selection! By all means encourage the best to apply, regardless of race or gender but what a ridiculous statement to make!
Sigh.....Dave, that was the whole point of what I wrote. Of course we can't select people who don't apply. Therefore, what we can do is encourage more people to apply and we do this, in part, by positive action steps such as highlighting those from such communities who have joined. And of course, this is a complicated area, the B Word makes some good points about ingrained beliefs in some of those communities. This makes it all the more important for us to make efforts to break down those stereotypes. None of this should be contentious, and neither should the implication be drawn that this is any way minimises the contribution of those of us who look more like those stereotypes. However, this is the internet - I just can't remember if I came for the 5 minute argument or the 10 minute one...