While blundering his way towards a crushing defeat in the UK’s general election this month, Rishi Sunak made many mistakes as prime minister. Perhaps the most disastrous was the Conservative leader’s bizarre promise to reintroduce national service for 18-year-olds.

While Sunak sparked a debate that even reached Australia about the benefits of military service, his plan was generally viewed with the cynicism it deserved. That is, as a shallow attempt to tap into the resentment of his party’s core demographic, Boomers, by forcing Britain’s supposedly entitled youth to pull up their bootstraps and drop their smashed avo toast.

If you think military service is a way to bring young people into line, try working in a cafe or bar. Credit: iStock

But if Boomers are really so hell-bent on punishing Gen Z, Sunak had it all wrong. Instead of serving in the army, the best method would be to force every young person to work a stint in hospitality.

For a start, working in a restaurant closely resembles a boot camp. You wake up early and wear a uniform, you’re on your feet all day, do the same exercises over and over again, sleep a few hours and rinse-repeat the next day.

Much in the way a marine can learn to assemble an........

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