In business since 1537, the City companythat’s acquiring targets in Basra

To Armoury House, headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company, for lunch with the recruiting officer — not with a view to joining up, though the PT would do me good, but to inspect the morale of this ancient City institution and inquire how it is adjusting to the pressures of the modern world, military and financial. The HAC is both a serious territorial regiment, specialising in ‘surveillance and target acquisition’, and a rather good club with a beautiful cricket pitch — an oasis of the old City, walled in on three sides by anonymous new blocks. But nationally the TA is in dire straits: total reserve strength is half what it was 20 years ago, and so far below the number needed to cushion the regulars against ‘overstretch’ that the maximum joining age is being raised from 32 to 40, and in some cases 42. London, with its transient population and lack of strong regimental links, has never been fertile recruiting territory and has fallen well short of recent targets.