Five specific job types that could be safe from conscription as UK plans new military rules

There are five specific types of jobs which might be safe from potential conscription should the situation in the world go a bit sideways.

You may have noticed that the world is becoming increasingly chaotic and conflicted, and the latest chunk of fuel thrown on that particular fire is the US abducting the president of Venezuela and Donald Trump declaring America would 'run' the country in the interim.

The world has grown a lot more dangerous in recent years, and the prospect of a more demanding kind of war that cannot be dealt with by volunteer forces alone is a concerning one.

Other countries have been introducing new schemes in order to get more people signed up to their armed forces without introducing conscription, as France revealed a military service plan and Germany plans to call up all 18-year-old men for military tests.

Later on this year the armed forces are opening a 'gap year' scheme, though it'll only be open to 150 people at first (ARMEND NIMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

Here in the UK, we're apparently 'rapidly developing' new plans to be ready for war on a larger scale, while a new scheme which starts later this year will offer people the chance to take a 'gap year' in the armed forces, but it's quite far from any sort of conscription.

Launching in March, the scheme will initially be open to 150 people to have a year's paid experience and training in the armed forces, and if there's sufficient interest, it might be expanded to 1,000 a year.

It's hardly conscription or national service given the numbers of people they have space for, but it's part of the government's 'whole of society' defence strategy, which is meant to get the public more clued in on things, and it takes inspiration from a similar 'gap year' model tried in Australia.

The armed forces are always trying new things to recruit people, your humble writer recently saw one of those 'You Belong Here' adverts where the text was in the Stranger Things font.

However, should something catastrophic happen and there be no resort but to go for desperate measures, there's a few jobs which might be safe.

Historically, the jobs which have avoided conscription have tended to be connected to food and healthcare supply chains, so when conscription was previously introduced in the UK, bakers, farmers, doctors, nurses and engineers were exempt from such measures.

A number of jobs including bakers were traditionally exempt from conscription schemes (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Will conscription be introduced in the UK?

Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of the Defence Staff, has said he 'cannot see conscription returning in the short term' and there were 'no plans' to bring it in, but that 'the situation in the world may deteriorate very significantly' and he wouldn't want to make a call beyond the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, MP Mike Martin told the Express last year there was 'a significant chance' of war with Russia, and if that happened, the government would be 'conscripting the population'.

Since he's a Lib Dem MP, he's not actually in the government, but he was sure there would be 'no question about that'.