period, you're not alone! today has been dubbed ‘divorce day‘ because of the number of couples looking to end their marriages. one app is helping them do it in the most amicable way possible. we will speak to one of its founders. a new report says we're still spending on booze, cars and stuff for our houses as we rein in shopping on other items. so, today we want to know — what are you still spending on? are you cutting back this year? just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello, and welcome to business live. so much for dry january. .. so much for dryjanuary... we are still spending on booze. let us know what you are still spending on too. use the hashtag bbc bisla life. —— biz live. the french president, emmanuel macron, has arrived on a state visit to china focusing on improving economic ties. the two countries are important partners for each other. in 2016, trade between the two was worth more than $68 billion, and it's growing all the time. but it's massively skewed in china's favour. they have a $33 billion surplus with france. so president macron is likely to seek better access for exports for exports of beef and wine, as well as access to financial markets. for china, better ties with france offer more opportunities to export goods to the entire european union. in 2016, those exports were worth nearly $416 billion. and, as both sides build on that trade, they're expected to announce a franco—chinese investment fund worth around $1.2 billion. professor steve tsang, director of soas china institute, is with me. you were listening to what ben had to say. what are your expectations for this visit? neither government can for this visit? neither government ca n afford for this visit? neither government can afford it to be otherwise. the chinese see france more as a diplomatic partner than as a business partner. the most important business partner. the most important business partner. the most important business partner for china business partner. the most important business partnerfor china in the eu is germany, and that's not going to change. some of the big business deals will materialise. and it is happening at a time when the uk is becoming less important, and the chinese are concerned about potential change in relationships with the us administration. you mention the fact that germany is the most important trading partner for china, but at the moment they are involved in their own domestic political affairs and not having a government in place is pretty critical. i would government in place is pretty critical. iwould imagine government in place is pretty critical. i would imagine emmanuel macron is going to china with the message, i'm the person to talk to about europe. with the uk leaving and germany not able to discuss issues right now in terms of trade. i think you're absolutely right. that is the message president and will be projecting in china. and it has a certain currency in china, but i think the chinese will be looking at the longer term relationship and potentially that germany will return. you mentioned that business deals are likely to be announced. airbus is likely to be a winner, for example, one company that could do well here. what about the issue of market access, which france really wa nts to market access, which france really wants to try and grapple with? will they see any progress in that area, for example? that is going to be a difficult issue for the chinese. what you are really saying is that president will ask for reciprocity in terms of marks of access. —— market access. the chinese has not granted reciprocity to its international partners in general terms. so making that as a special concession to france is problematic because if france gets it, the trump administration will insist on it, andi administration will insist on it, and i don't think xi jinping administration will insist on it, and i don't think xijinping is prepared for that yet. thank you so much for your time. prepared for that yet. thank you so much foryourtime. interesting conversation. we will keep on how emmanuel macron gets on in china. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... the japanese firm takata has had to recall a further 3.3 million cars overfaulty airbags. the company was forced to file for bankruptcy back injune. the scandal is already the biggest recall in automotive history. a senior bbcjournalist has stepped down from her role accusing the broadcaster of having a "secretive and illegal" pay culture. carrie gracie is leaving herjob as china editor, citing what she called an "indefensible" pay gap with male colleagues. she made the announcement in an open letter, in which she said that the bbc was breaking british equality law. the accountancy firm kpmg has quit its advisor role on the grenfell inquiry. campaigners had called its appointment to be reversed, saying the firm had failed to disclose a conflict of interest. kpmg is the auditor of three firms under scrutiny by the inquiry into the blaze which killed 71 people last year. last week, the chinese government announced that it's introducing a ten—year visa scheme to attract highly—skilled talent from across the globe. china has now named the first high—end executive to receive the certificate for foreign high—end talent as microsoft executive saju george. leisha santorelli is following the story from our asia business hub in singapore. usually it is difficult to get a visa for china, but this is a 10—year multiple entries up till it is notoriously difficult to get tvs for china and currently foreigners have renewed their visa what ever —— every one 01’ have renewed their visa what ever —— every one or two years. if you are a top athlete or a nobel prize winner, you are in luck, you can get a special visa for high—end foreigners. the chinese government is looking to attract top tier talent in the area of science and technology and sport, but they are also earning six times china's annual wage, which in beijing was around 111,000 us dollars per year. the winner of the lucky golden ticket of the first 10—year multiple entry visa is microsoft's human resources director, but i think they will see quite a few more coming after him as well. thank you. sadly i don't think we qualify as highly skilled by that definition! nonetheless, thank you. is this the week when some reality finally sets into the markets? there's quite a lot for them to digester, it's been quiet over the holiday period. we have the highs last week boosted by the strong jobs data in the us. markets still riding on the tax cut in the us. we will get earnings and inflation data released in the us next week, and an indication about what the retailers and how they fared over the christmas period. in durable, the ftse 100 christmas period. in durable, the ftse100 having a record—breaking first week of trading for 2018 —— in europe. what we are seeing an markets is the strength in asia when markets is the strength in asia when markets were not overly worried by reports of a potential rise in interest rates in china. we will also get an update on german factory orders, eurozone business and consumer confidence later as well as retail sales figures after the crucial christmas period. we will talk about those in a moment. and yogita limaye has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. this week, investors will get a lot of consumer—related data here in the us. today, the federal reserve will release numbers for how much outstanding credit has been extended to american people. it's expected to have increased to nearly £21 billion in the month of november, which suggests that either people have taken more debt on or they're repaying it slower. now, debt is a double—edged sword for the american economy. while it means people are spending, which is good, too much of it presents a risk of bad loans. and later in the week we will find out whether or not people are buying more, when the retail sales numbers are released. we will also have the consumer price index, a key measure of inflation watched by the federal reserve. in corporate news, big banks likejp morgan chase and wells fargo will be releasing earnings on friday. it is quite busy in terms of earnings, in asia they are gearing up earnings, in asia they are gearing upfora lot earnings, in asia they are gearing up for a lot of earnings coming out this week. joining us is jeremy cook from world first. a new trading week is starting robustly. everything is kicking on, we have started 2018, the start of a new narrative, maybe, but a lot of the narrative has carried on from 2017, the second half of 2017, which was a federal reserve still looking to raise interest rates a couple or three or maybe four times this year. the growth is starting to lift around the world. moderate prices running high. so nothing's really set to knock that. —— commodity prices. there is a lot of political news coming up prices. there is a lot of political news coming up over prices. there is a lot of political news coming up over the course of the next couple of weeks, you know, the next couple of weeks, you know, the leadership in germany getting together and hopefully will get a government after the reshuffle in downing street in the next 2a hours. that could change things but at the moment everything looks robust. we are going to get some results right around the world, but particularly in europe and the uk we will get a lot of updates on how they fare. it is familiar terms of winners and losers. yes, did christmas come. people on the high street? certainly in the developed world, retail consumption drives gdp, not manufacturing or tourism all raw materials, it is what we go out and spend money on. whether it is in the supermarkets in the uk or the department stores in the us, we will find out. what do you still spend your money on? a wedding, at the moment! this is it! the week before harry and meghan, jeremy will be going down the aisle in london! that's where all the money is going! that's where all the money is going! that's where all of the money is going, i'm spending my money on photographers and flowers and things. is it you spending it or what your future wife? they have a corporate budget, of course! it's divorce day—to—day as well! corporate budget, of course! it's divorce day-to-day as well! there's no link to this at all! he's not even married yet! still to come... january 8th is being called ‘divorce day‘ by lawyers, because of the surge of requests from couples considering ending their marriages after the holidays — but technology is helping to reduce the discord. we'll find out how. you're with business live from bbc news. before we grapple with that rather difficult issue, let's talk about british manufacturers. britain's manufacturers are optimistic about the year ahead, and say a growing global economy will boost orders and growth. that's according to a survey published today by the manufacturing manufacturing group the eef. it's chief economist is lee hopley, shejoins us now. it is rare we can talk about such optimism at the start of the new year. many people use the famous phrase, cautious, or nervous. but manufacturers are optimistic? that's right, that's a different story to the one we were looking at going into 2017. but actually growth, particularly in the second half of last year, was pretty good. it feels like there is enough momentum to carry the sector through this year. i think carry the sector through this year. ithinka carry the sector through this year. i think a lot of the positive sentiment has been driven by what's happening in the rest of the world. companies in berdych reporting much more confidence about the global outlook than they were 12 months ago. a bit less so about their expectations for the uk economy, not surprisingly. i wanted to ask about that. i don't want to be pessimistic 01’ that. i don't want to be pessimistic or anything, but there are a lot of things that could change, good and bad depending on which side of the fence you sit on, but it is uncertainty, as we have always discussed, that causes nervousness for business. that's absolutely right, and you are right to point to some of the caution out there. indeed, our survey shows that more companies the risks ahead rather than opportunities for their business this year. and inevitably some of those are related to what's happening on the political agenda. brexit related risks are right up there. particularly in relation to some of the practical impacts from brexit. exchange rate for the tylicki, risks for major customers relocating and clearly loss of skills eu workers featured quite strongly. thanks for explaining that. if you are planning to travel by train or maybe you are trying right now and you have got stuck, but as having a very tough time. five train companies on strike today, wednesday and friday. they are more than most rail, south—western, greater anglia and southern today as well. we have got details on the bbc live page. real union boss might cash saying strikers at five train companies are solidly supporting the action, big lines were mounted this morning. and the members have walked out on those various rail services that i've already mentioned. details on our website. you're watching business live. our top story — france's emmanuel macron arrives in china hoping to forge stronger ties with the world's second biggest economy. parting is such sweet sorrow, at least if shakespeare is to be believed. but don't take his word for it. yes, there were almost 107,000 divorces in england and wales in 2016. and according to the office for national statistics, this accounts for 43% of all marriages. the separation process can be pretty unpleasant emotionally, but also economically. so amicable was created following the founder's own traumatic and expensive divorce to help others avoid the pitfalls of ending a marriage without a lawyer. we'rejoined by kate daly, the co—founder of amicable. welcome, kate to the programme. thank you for coming on. so you started this company with one other and your area of expertise is psychology. that's right. the other founder is technical. so, neither of you are lawyers? no, we're not. i've worked in the legal field for quite a while as a family consultant. i work with some of the country's leading labtive work with some of the country's leading la btive lawyers work with some of the country's leading labtive lawyers and as a consequence of my own really traumatic and awful divorce and the experience of working with them and seeing how it could be done, really very well, we set—up up amicable, but the trouble with the collaborative process was it was just too expensive for very many people. so, one of the founding principles of amicable is affordability and access to justice because since the regulation, since legal aid was abolished for family cases, for divorcing unless there is a domestic violence issue. so since that has happened it has been very difficult for people to get good advice in an affordable manner so that's, you know, what amicable set out to do. you talked about your own experience. i want z won't ask you to relive too much of it, but what are the things that really stood out for you as being real sticking points or difficulties in that process ? points or difficulties in that process? the biggest difficulty is that the system dictates that if you use a lawyer each person has to have their own lawyer and a lawyer did duty—bound to put your interests first. it sets up a win listen lose situation. if your lawyer does well for you, it means your partner has got less somehow or is doing less well and at amicable we take a fundamentally different approach because we're not set up as a law firm. we're set up as a legal services firm and that allows us to work with both partners together to help them come toen a agreement in an amicable way and if they have got children to prioritise their children to prioritise their children and put the needs of the family and the children first. we do that by helping them set goals about what the future may look like and saying if you have got these goals and these resource, how can we split the resource it achieve these goals and that's fundamentally different to the traditional way of doing it which is well, you're entitled to this and you're entight told that. you are look to go reduce your fees even more to make yourself more accessible to those who can't afford good advice as you've already mentioned, but how will you be able to do that and sort of stay profitable as a company? so that's where the technology comes in. so my co—founder pip wilson is technology entrepreneur and it's looking at how technology can take the strain and can take away some of the administrative burden that traditionally lawyers or other people have done so we're not looking to polarize the debate. we are not looking to say that technology is a panacea that's going to solve all of these problems, it really is the combination of people and technology working together that's going to make the difference and make this scaleable and profitable and reduce the cost. what's the response been from traditional lawyers? because you're a disrupter, you're coming in their industry and shaking up how they do it. it strikes me like estate agents and conveysancing, the system is set up and conveysancing, the system is set up to favour lawyers?” and conveysancing, the system is set up to favour lawyers? i think we've had a mixed response. there are some very enlightened lawyers, we've had talks with the law society and the solicitors regulator authority and they have been warm and receptive because everybody recognises that the current system is pretty broken. it costs this country £48 billion a yearin it costs this country £48 billion a year in divorce bills. and that's the combined cost of the mental illness and things that happen after a traumatic experience. it is the additional benefits, it is the cost to the prison service and the additional cost to schools so there isa gam additional cost to schools so there is a gam it of costs and i think everybody recognises that we need to do more to help people do this in a more kind and humane way and that's really what we're talking about here. 0k, kate, thank you very much. really interesting. best of luck with it. thank you. a new car designed by former bmw and apple employees has been unveiled ahead of the consumer electronics show in las vegas. called the byton, it sports a huge touch—screen dashboard, as dave lee reports. what we want to do is try to merge your life outside the car with your experience in the car. everything will be controlled via touch and then certain aspects will be controlled via voice and also very novel to us is gesture control. some of the most exciting features of the byton car are going to be disabled until we live in a world of fully autonomous driving. so perhaps think of this vehicle as bridging the gap between our dumb driving past and our smart driving future. we have to come together and share this infrastructure across the companies because this is not a differentiating factor, this is something which makes the whole industry successful. i like the music on that. jeremy cook is back. a tweet from elon musk says, "gunner put on an old school driving and roller skates and rock restaurant at one of the new super charger location in la." only one. why can't they been everywhere. have you been toa drive—in? they been everywhere. have you been to a drive-in? no. i've been to one in south africa. they do them in south africa which is where he's from. let's say with our marriage—divorce theme. there is a really interesting yarn in the business insider about harry and meghan's wedding. 0ne business insider about harry and meghan's wedding. one of the issue of weddings is the list as you know, who do you not invite? the headline is that trump may deny the uk a brexit deal if he is snubbed from prince harry's wedding, the nuptials on 19th may. prince harry is more close with the 0bamas given the... their support for the invictus games. but donald trump has always looked at a state visit to the uk as something which he really, really wa nts something which he really, really wants and whether that coincides with meghan and harry's nuptials. he's not coming to ours because we're not having kids! he may still be turning up at windsor castle. the 0bamas could be there and trump perhaps not there, but because the 0bamas have the connection with the games and everything which is a legit reason for inviting them. this is not, the thing about the royal wedding, it is not a full state occasion. you know, prince harry is only fifth or sixth in line, he is closer line, this is not in westminster abbey, he is going to get a state visit himself. we asked you what you're spending your money on. this is in the washington post, liquor, home, hobbies and cars. so, we are still spending, it seems. yes. but a lot of things falling by the way side? a lot of squeeze on incomes. inflation here in the uk, about 3%, real wages, still negative, the post brexit kind of chronic crawl that we are seeing and it is interesting to see how we are now, not also what we are spending oui’ now, not also what we are spending our money, but how we are spending, whether we are did it on the high street, amazon and that kind of thing. a lot of people are getting more experienced buying. a lot of tweets still spending on holidays, but cutting back on clothing and fashion items is one point. languages and culture, holidays in the in sun. one says, "no money to spend at all." that's darling. people will be more willing to save and go for quality than go for the disposable fashions which is going to stack them high and sell them cheap and throw them away when they fall apart. we will see how the retailers fair. thanks jeremy for coming in. nice to see you. having discussed jeremy not so much wedding and possible divorce! ben, we didn't say that. we just said a divorce. the pessimist to the optimist. we will see you tomorrow. are you here tomorrow? i am. so am i. we'll see you tomorrow. take care. bye—bye. good morning. many of us enjoyed a glorious weekend. lots of sunshine, but it was cold and certainly this morning it will start off on a cold note. a widespread frost around, but many of us should wake up to blue skies and sunshine. cold and frosty. be careful first thing this morning. it is not the case across the far south of england and south wales. more cloud here this morning. so temperatures actually above freezing and then gradually through the morning into the afternoon that cloud you can see just moving further northward, spreading into northern areas by the this afternoon. for scotland, northern ireland and it will hold on to the sunshine into the afternoon. temperatures two to five celsius. patchy cloud into northern ireland and by the far north of england at this stage, there will be sunshine. but elsewhere, it will stay cloudy. now, despite the cloudy skies, there will be one or two breaks towards western areas, but there could be patchy drizzle and temperatures this afternoon about four to six celsius. tonight, that cloud will continue to spread northwards. it will push into scotland. except the far north—west of scotla nd scotland. except the far north—west of scotland where with clear skies it will turn cold and frosty. temperatures below freezing. elsewhere, not as cold as last night, temperatures staying above freezing. misty and murky conditions with that to come. through into tuesday morning, you will see this weather front pushing in towards the west. turning wet and windy in western areas by the end of the day especially. elsewhere, lots of cloud and hill fog around. that fog will lift up, but it will stay grey for many of us. a few breaks here and there in the cloud in northern england and scotland and temperatures on tuesday about four to seven celsius. as we go into wednesday, this weather front that's affecting western areas gradually pushes east ward, but as it moves east ward it will break up a bit. so there will be patchy rain during wednesday across eastern areas of england, up into eastern scotland, brighter skies developing towards western areas and learning less cold. temperatures across southern parts getting up into double figures. so that's how we go into the week really. it starts off this week cold and frosty, there will be sunshine. cloudier with rain at times midweek and by the end of the week, it will turn less cold. temperatures getting into double figures. that's it from me. bye—bye. hello, it's monday, it's 9am, i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme. theresa may is set to shake up a top tea m theresa may is set to shake up a top team after she lost three cabinet members at the end of last year. we are in downing street to bring you all of the latest on the new faces in the cabinet. the read beasts and the brexiteers look set to be safe. but stand by for a clutch of long—serving middle ranking ministers to be axed. also other golden globe normal was last night, the first major awards ceremony since hollywood was hit by the sexual harassment scandals, it was a night of powerful speeches and a statement of powerful speeches and a statement of solidarity. i want all of the girls watching here and now to know that the new day is on the horizon!

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