And I remember watching my dad - expertly-chosen tool-belt wrapped around his trim middle - change the oil on the old car with one hand, grind a new sump nut with the other, and tap-dance the tune to Hawaii-Five-O, all at the same time. Actually, I can't. My dad's an academic who still struggles with changing his own socks. But the theory - according to this piece in the Telegraph - is that today's 20-somethings are so lacking in practical skills that they're paying great wads of moolah to other people to do the simplest things. They're just one step away from handing out fivers to the nearest person who can brush their teeth for them. The information comes courtesy of a survey - and then journalist Cassandra Jardine conducts her own research and comes up with some valuable conclusions. It's not haplessness. It's not the fault of the youngsters. It's about a culture in which technology is disposable, or so complex only the workshop that made it can fix it - and one which mollycoddles its citizens with so many safety scares they're frightened - in once instance - of changing a lightbulb because they can't remember which way is "off" on the switch.