James Harding took up the post of Business and City Editor at The Times on 14 August 2006.

James graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a first-class degree in history.  He then learnt Japanese and went to work as a speechwriter in the office of Koichi Kato, then Japan’s chief cabinet secretary.  From 1993 to 1994, he worked in the Japan unit of the European Commission.  He speaks Japanese, Chinese, French and German.

James started at the Financial Times in 1994 as a corporate reporter. Between 1996 and 1999 he was a correspondent in China, where he opened the Shanghai bureau for the FT – the first European newspaper to open an office in the city since the 1949 revolution. He was appointed Washington bureau chief in April 2002, having been the FT’s media editor for three years.

James was a mentor to two secondary school children in the south London borough of Southwark.  As a result, he and the Common Purpose civic action group came up with the idea of justdosomething.net, an on-line service dedicated to enabling UK citizens to participate in public service.  It links professionals with non-executive positions in local schools, prisons and hospitals as well as national charities.

He has written for various magazines and journals, including Prospect, The New Republic, The Washington Post, Slate and The Economist.  He has extensive international and national television and radio experience, appearing regularly on The McLaughlin Group as well as CNN, BBC and Fox. In younger days, he co-wrote a play – I believe in love – with a fellow writer who, happily, has gone onto greater things.