the times of london has a story about the uk's plans to ban credit card surcharges. that could save shoppers here an estimated £500 million a year. $650 million. hurrah. back to the financial pages of the guardian who have a story about city firms preparing for brexit. amid uncertainty they're putting their own contingency plans in place to kick in at the end of this year. and, finally, a delightful story in the new york times about a woman who lived in a house—sized washing machine. frances gabe, the inventor of the self—cleaning home, died at the end of last year aged 101. we will get to that in a minute. with me is james hughes, chief market analyst at gkfx, a brokerage firm. good morning. let's get the pain out of the way first, the bbc in the spotlight. yes, later they will publish the annual report. what is

interesting is it is only this year where the list of 96 employees paid over £150,000 a year will be released. it won't be released every year. this year it will be. the focus is on the gender pay gap. it is notjust in broadcasting, it is right across the world, really. 0ne of the issues is one third of the 96 people paid over £150,000 a year are women. the bbc within the article have said this isn't good enough and things need to be done and things will change along those lines. for years and years so many different organisations have said that we must change the way the gender pay gap is growing. and for years and years maybe that isn't moving in the right direction as quickly as we need it to be. it seems to be moving in the right direction. not as quickly as

necessary. i wonder what you think as the top line of the story. most people just want to see what these people just want to see what these people are earning. people want to know what gary lineker is earning. it is the people you see every day oi'i it is the people you see every day on the television and they want to know what they earn. the big difference is the bbc is not a commercial station. a lot of the stories are at around these people, you will learn what they earn, but they could earn a lot more at other commercial stations. that figure of £150,000, so who is earning more than the prime minister? exactly right. one other thing that struck me on this was the line in the guardian that says the bbc said, yes, these presenters can respond, and they should expect to be trolled, which is a sad state of affairs, as is the way with everything. absolutely, and i think nice or something from claudia

winkleman. she said she welcomed this coming up. i don't know how many people would welcome this. true. let's move on to the financial times at netflix. this was the top story on the business stories yesterday. 104 million subscribers, beating expectations. not quite so complimentary to the company. netflix is one of these new fangs stocks which dominate wall street. please explain. we used to be dominated by oil and banking. please explain. we used to be dominated by oiland banking. now, wall street is dominated by fangs stocks, facebook, amazon, apple, netflix and google, alphabet. netflix and google, alphabet. netflix is a modern tech company, which dominate everyday living, like a lot of those companies do. and subscriber numbers have been enormous. they have been pushing into other areas of the world very successfully. what this story talks

about is the fact that a lot of chief executives, the high earners at netflix, are earning their bonuses and hitting their bonuses with what it says "uncanny certainty". they are being hit every quarter without fail. it is bringing into focus how they do that and if the numbers are real. that is the big issue. the problem is they get a salary, which is what you are paid for doing a good job, and the bonus is forgoing above and beyond. and the bonus in the states, where the story co m es the bonus in the states, where the story comes from, is tax deductible. absolutely. if they hit the target, it benefits them and the company. looking at the last number of quarters, they are hitting it. 18 three quarters million in the bonus pot. and they were a tad under 18 one quarter million. and what the rule says on bonuses in the us is, and the line is, the outcome is of

substantial uncertainty. that is how they describe the uncertainty. if you hit this figure within1%, it could go against them. what could happen? investigations. like anything, there will be some kind of investigation into it. that hasn't been done as of yet. if that happens and netflix have been seen to break the law in any way, then it is what they are charged. it sounds like an netflix drama. 0riginal they are charged. it sounds like an netflix drama. original content. they are charged. it sounds like an netflix drama. 0riginal contentlj am sure they will make money out of it somehow. more investigations. this struck me, the mercedes cars to be recalled in their million. this would be vw in scale. it is the bottom of the front page. it is not the lead story. and for vw, it was four weeks and months. every mercedes sold in the last six years. that is millions of cars. that is

incredible numbers. you are right. if this had happened before the volkswagen story, mercedes, just as big a company, it would be enormous. and maybe we have only heard the start of this. and of course the rumblings will go on with recalls for these cars. of course, it is reputational damage which this causes. we know the damage it has had on vw. we have seen chief executives lose jobs and issues going on. and vw are still trying to come out on the other side of that. it is yet to be seen whether the same reputational damage will happen. it is seen as the new norm, isn't it? it isn't the one naughty boy in the classroom. they are fiddung boy in the classroom. they are fiddling with emissions and everything will be ok. another death kneu everything will be ok. another death knell for the diesel. the times, rip—off fees for using credit cards

to be banned. in the uk if you use a credit card to pay for something you are slapped with an extra charge. this was always the case, it would be said "yes, it cost the company that you are using a credit card with more to bank with them" and yet it is not the case any more. that is what has been brought to attention. you go to the retailer to use your credit card, or online, where the issues come in, and they say we are charged for you to pay with your credit card, when we bank it we will pass it on to you. that doesn't necessarily happen any more. retailers and other companies are passing that charge on to customers. that means we are all being charged for absolutely nothing. and the case is that it will be banned, and that is that it will be banned, and that is positive news. can i be the devils advocate for a moment? you have a choice. you can do it on debit or credit. you might not have a choice. you might pay for a summer holiday flights in a year and you

don't have the money in your bank account, so you put it on your credit card. thanks for that. so, let's look at brexit. people are going to hate us for this. talking brexit is a killer, isn't it? it drives us to despair. the idea that we have come at what is it, 18 months before the end of negotiations. not if you are in negotiations in the city. they are making decisions now. my question is, are they taking them now? i tend to not believe 90% of what i read around brexit. to be honest, what has happened ever since 23june last honest, what has happened ever since 23 june last year has honest, what has happened ever since 23june last year has been headlines after headlines after headlines. there are no facts around brexit whatsoever. we can say city firms are playing their contingency plan.

city firms and firms in general plan contingencies around absolutely every eventuality. yes, brexit is a massive deal. of course, it could cause different issues. the biggest issue is we have no idea what they are. not one clue. we don't understand when they will come around. and in what way they will manifest themselves. so, how they can plan for those things they don't know about, i find difficult to believe. maybe a good reason in the uncertainty to move nonetheless. we ran out of time and we didn't talk about the creator of the self—cleaning home. ithink about the creator of the self—cleaning home. i think we can say to go to the new york times. they have the story. it is an amazing story. it is an amazing tale and it is well worth having a look at. thank you very much indeed. thank you. hello, there. i've got the thunderstorm globe behind me, because huge thunderstorms broke out across the south of the uk during the latter part of tuesday. but that was after quite a glorious day on tuesday afternoon. plenty of sunshine up and down

the uk, and pretty decent temperatures. 26—28 celsius was tuesday afternoon's high. there was lots of sunshine across the north, a little bit hazier in the south, and then thunderstorms broke out, initially across the south—west of england, and then spreading into southern and south—eastern counties. torrential downpours, flash—floods reported, and also strong, gusty winds and very large hail. so there is likely to be further disruption for more showers and thunderstorms during the overnight period and into wednesday morning. keep tuned to your bbc local radio for the latest updates. now, thunderstorms continue to rattle on across england and wales during the overnight period. if you catch one, it could be very severe, and likely to be disruptive as well. but not all areas will get them. another warm and muggy start to wednesday. wednesday morning those thunderstorms and showers will trundle northwards into scotland, and we'll see further thundery showers pushing into northern ireland, and then into wales and north—west england into the afternoon. but for england and wales,

for the majority it will be a fine afternoon. the sunshine will come out, it will feel humid, and temperatures will top 29—30, maybe even 31 celsius across east anglia and towards the east midlands. further west you are, it will be a bit cooler, cloudier, and showers and thunderstorms will make inroads into wales, north—west england eventually getting into northern ireland and western parts of scotland. but even ahead of it, we could see some thundery showers breaking out in scotland. so that's how it's looking through wednesday afternoon. now, as we head on through the evening period and overnight, those showers continue to trundle northwards and eastwards. potentially some severe ones. we could have flash flooding in places. the risk of hail and gusty winds with these storms. behind it, it starts to turn a little bit cooler and fresher, with clearing skies for northern ireland, into the far west of britain. but ahead of it, again, another warm and muggy night to come

with the showers and thunderstorms. for thursday, again, it will be quite a warm and humid start in central and eastern areas. those showers and thunderstorms continuing in the morning and into the afternoon they should eventually clear. something brighter pushing in and something fresher. we'll notice that, too. temperatures reaching 17—23 celsius in the south—east. so that will be feeling certainly much cooler than the last few days. into friday and saturday we're into that cooler regime. westerly winds bringing sunshine and showers off the atlantic. temperatures range from 18—20 celsius. hello, this is breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. a clean—up operation is under way in cornwall after flash floods sent a four foot torrent of water through the streets. people had to be winched from their homes as torrential rain brought huge hailstones onto the village of coverack. a torrid night for others across southern england and more storms to come today. i will have the details throughout the programme. good morning, it's

wednesday the 19th of july. also this morning: the bbc is to reveal how much it pays its top talent, as it admits just a third of the highest—paid stars are women.