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My attempt to win the first flatpack world championship

My attempt to win the first flatpack world championship

Times02-05-2025

Utter humiliation. 'You're doing it wrong. You need to put the lock nuts in,' a guy in the crowd shouts. I've gone bright red and am cursing my incompetence.
I'm competing in the first Flatpack World Championships and am in the process of — badly — building an Ikea 'Billy' bookcase. Next to me, screwdrivers in hand, three other competitors are battling for a place in the final.
Behind us Kevin McCloud, he of Grand Designs fame, is talking the assembled crowd through what's going on. 'Anna is having a nightmare,' he says with that delight afforded to so many people who have just gone £200,000 over budget on their conversion of a grade II listed water tower.
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