Big Pistons Forever - spot on. The strategic impatience of wanting 40% female and 20% non-white by 2030 was exactly the problem. It was also a totally arbitrary figure too, with no apparent science behind it (probably made up with the help of the naked 3 star who seemed to have a habit of doing that). But it helped nobody, it discriminated against white men, leaving them angry and without the roles they deserved, and it left a bunch of women and non-white skinned individuals wondering if they were there because of what they looked like, rather than being any good. You can’t treat what you think is discrimination through discrimination, and you can’t fiddle the figures through discriminating against others due to their appearance.
Whilst I agree that the country’s make up by ethnic appearance is gradually changing, the other real problem is one of culture. The senior leaders that set up these ‘targets’ failed to recognise that. Sadly, we live in a society where girls still have pink bedrooms painted for them with My Little Pony in the corner - is it any wonder why 75% of UK horse riders are women, but less than 10% are general aviation pilots? Further, you need to break into the cultures from the 1st and 2nd generation immigrant communities that value roles such as Lawyers, Doctors, Business and celebrity over that of military service to your adopted country. Only when you have fixed the culture, which is not for the RAF to fix, will you stand a chance of having a military service that reflects more modern society.
Oh, on the wider matter, the Armed Forces are also systemically discriminatory in 2 other areas - age and health. Both for very good reason given the nature of the military role. Those are allowed under UK Law, but discrimination by appearance is not, as there is no valid reason to do so. But all said, systemic discrimination can be a good thing and also a bad thing. It is certainly not a term only to be banded about by enraged activists and so-called ‘snow flakes’.