How things change:


The British Army secretly restricted the number of recruits from ethnic minorities for 20 years, newly released official documents show.

From 1957 Army medical officers were instructed to note all new recruits with "Asiatic or Negroid features".

The data were used to limit the number of "non-white" troops in the Army.

The secret system was uncovered after about 50,000 government files were made public on the first working day of the Freedom of Information Act.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says the report "does not reflect the current situation" within the armed forces.

Many of the government papers had been kept hidden from the public for decades under the 30-year rule.

But under the Act, implemented on 1 January, the public gains the right to see documents held by more than 100,000 bodies.

BBC NEWS | UK | Army restricted ethnic recruits