One of the most ignominious accusations that has recently been levelled against gen Z – people born between 1997 and 2012 – is that we cannot do DIY.

Nearly a quarter of us can’t change a lightbulb, a fair chunk can’t identify a flathead screwdriver, and a fifth don’t even know what a spanner is, according to research by DIY enthusiasts’ favourite Halfords, which surveyed 2,000 people, 323 of which were aged between 18 and 27. (I should get out of the way early that I was born in 1997 and no, I don’t know my flathead screwdrivers from whatever the other ones are called.)

The commentators, as they are wont to do, had a field day. “Why young people can’t handle DIY,” ran one headline, as though it were national service. “Revealed: the basic DIY tasks gen Z won’t do – as young adults pay thousands of pounds for others to do easy household tasks,” said another. Op-eds were commissioned. Radio producers were dispatched to social media to seek these feckless layabouts out for a soundbite. Instead of a nation of DIYers like great generations past, we have, according to the pe...
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