could saudi arabia be the next tourism hotspot for uk travellers? in the arab news, uk tour operators report having growing waiting lists of holidaymakers willing to pay nearly £5000 to visit the gulf state. it follows a move to introduce visa—free travel to part of the kingdom's red sea coast. and plunging necklines and short skirt banned from ladies golf as part of the new dress code in the lpga tour. the daily telegraph speaks to british number one charley hull who says the new rules are a shame and believes the sport needs to move away from its old—fashioned label. laughter well, plenty to talk about. let's get started. with me is jane foley, senior fx strategist at rabo bank. it is nice to see you. good morning. let's start with the guardian story. all of these empty homes in an area

where people have been left with out any. this is about the broken housing system and there is a massive contrast, as we know, in this part, where this awful fire happened, between the very rich and of course the very poor. it makes the point that within this part, this is an article which at the guardian says was perhaps mistakenly sent to the guardian, but it does highlight this issue apparently within this area where the tower was, 1652 empty homes and of those over 1000 classified as on occupied, the implication that the wealthy own homes not in the tower but in the posh surrounding areas for investment purposes —— unoccupied. because they are wealthy they are not rented out, they are lying empty. you say it is the uk broken system but the london housing market is totally in its own ranking, isn't it, ina is totally in its own ranking, isn't

it, in a way. it is a massive attraction for international investors who want to put their money into various assets around the world. having a property in london is one of the things to do. that has been the trend for a number of years. interestingly, there is an amount of anecdotal survey evidence suggesting that foreign investors are less interested more recently because of the falling pound after the brexit referendum and it has made investment in the uk and little more uncertain in the property market. the legacy of the use of the investment in the london market has given us this problem. and it is a problem, sorry, ben, to interrupt, it is extremely difficult to fix. it is not a new problem. it has been here for decades. it makes living in london so unaffordable. this issue of the grenfell tower has highlighted a problem that has been around for decades. it has indeed. as the article would suggest, only 12 houses from those who have lost

their homes, have accepted offers of accommodation. more have been offered, although they have not been considered acceptable, or people are perhaps considering their options. there are people within, from this tower, who don't have a permanent home to go to. this story highlights the difference in this part of particularly between the haves and have—nots. particularly between the haves and have-nots. although another way to look at it is these people may well still pay council tax which goes into the coffers of kensington and chelsea, which helps to them sort out these problems and put money into the borough to try to find alternative homes for these people. yes, and it makes the point that the borough is trying to buy homes for poor people as well. let's move on, let's go to another capital, paris, just across the channel and the

chinese tourists bringing a boost after a little lull. this comesjust 1.5 years after the paris attack. it is an interesting story for a couple of reasons. first of all, chinese tourists are coming back and we can infer other tourists are coming back as well. notjust paris. certainly in paris it has been one of the top tourist places for years, for decades. so the fact that people are making a return is certainly good for paris, good for france as a whole, and of course it ties in with maybe a wave of confidence in the french economy. this ties in with the french presidential election, with mar, he has brought a wave of hope, and that has lifted confidence within the business community —— macron. another piece of good news for france. and they needed it, really, because it was a big drop off into risk owing to paris, certainly after charlie hebdo and

then of course the attacks in paris in november 2015, they really felt it. and for the french economy, tourism is a huge part of their national income. it is. if tourism goes down, they feel it. especially in areas such as paris. on the flipside, we talk about it in business, how much chinese spending is fuelled by debt at the moment, and if they rely on these tourists coming from china, if it all goes wrong, that might suddenly dry up.|j think this is a bigger issue really for world growth and certainly if we look at the chinese economy there is a lot of construction and housing and so on as businesses that are financed by debt and the fear is that if the government were to clampdown on that, and many people say that they should because of the rates of accumulation being so significant, china will slow and if china slows it is notjust paris tourism that will slow down. it is going to have a kick downwards for

the world. let's have a look at the times, ilike the world. let's have a look at the times, i like the headline, "not fair", talking about uber drivers colluding, trying to push up what they will get if you get into the taxi to get the uber to wherever you are going. and indeed it is a story of human nature because this is about collusion of the drivers. and the way the system works, the algorithm works, is if you turn on your phone and you put up the uber and you see cars in your area the price of the fair will drive down. what they are doing according to research is they are colluding so that drivers locked out and then there are less cars appearing on the screen there are less cars appearing on the screen and therefore... at the end of the day they won't get the competition and markets authority breathing down their neck for price—fixing. these uber drivers will get away with it? at the levels now, yes, they will. it doesn't talk

about the increase of the fair. i am assuming that it is relatively low. but it is interesting that passengers are being a little bit exploited. the scary thing would be if they introduce self driving cars for uber that talk to each other to do that. the rise of the robots! arab news. this is really interesting. i think so. arab news. this is really interesting. ithink so. part arab news. this is really interesting. i think so. part of the red sea that is available to uk tourists with these changes. saudi arabia we know is trying to diversify and change reliance on oil as income and that is part of this. it is part of that. if we look at the saudi budget over the last couple of years they have had a real hit because of the lower price of oil. that has made a certain amount of changes in the saudi government to try to get back some of the spending. now, there is a plan here. it is one of the crown princes who has pushed this to increase tourism around 2030, but it is a big change.

i used to work for a saudi company in the 19905. and as an employee of one of their banks that we invested money, it was difficult for me to get a visa, a5 money, it was difficult for me to get a visa, as i was an unmarried woman. and once i got a visa, the hotel would not have me as an unmarried woman. so the question, how big a change is it, it is huge, and secondly for me, why do so many to risk, they are queueing up to go, wa nt to risk, they are queueing up to go, want to go when women have been so poorly treated? i am glad that you bring up sexism, because the daily telegraph comes up, and the dress code for women at the lpga tour — what do you make of it? there is a big debate because of this and certainly what we are seeing in the papers it would suggest it is a shame. that seems to be the quote. the reason is golf is seen as, for women at least, not having enough

participation, it is seen as fuddy—duddy and perhaps this traditional dress code is not going to appealed to the younger generation, it won't seem cool, or in tennis with the clothing that is attractive. there is opposition from americans with respect to this dress code. we will watch this space on that. yes, it will be interesting. it won't be the last word, i am sure. i wonder if any male golfers pa rt sure. i wonder if any male golfers part of the association might turn up part of the association might turn up in part of the association might turn upina part of the association might turn up in a plunging neckline and revealing skirt to make the point. that's a thought. thank you for coming in today. it is nice to see you. we will have more news for you shortly. stay with us. goodbye. goodbye. hello, there. most of our rain over the last couple of days has come in the form over the last few days we have become quite used to mix of sunshine and showers. but through the day ahead, things are looking a little bit different. there is more persistent rain

on the way for some of us. you can see on the satellite picture this area of cloud has been hurtling its way in from the atlantic, an area of low pressure, with a frontal system being thrown before it. and it is this which is going to bring some outbreaks of quite heavy rain in places. with that, some strong and blustery winds. could see gales for a time around coasts of the south—west of england. that rain crosses southern counties of england, through wales, parts of the midlands, northern ireland, northern england and southern scotland. these northern areas will see fairly patchy rain, even with the brightness in between. but down towards the south, especially close to the english channel, the rain will be quite heavy and quite persistent through the day. could give some big puddles, surface water and spray on the road. and there will be a lot of low cloud, mist and murkiness across the south—west, with some humid air in place. 18 degrees in cardiff, some patchy rain moving across wales. but for northern ireland, into the afternoon things will be brightening up, with some sunshine, the return of some scattered showers. more persistent rain edging in across southern scotland. but from aberdeen to inverness, and up into caithness and sutherland, the northern isles,

it should stay dry for most of the day. some spells of sunshine here. a bit of brightness, perhaps, for north—west england. most of northern england saying cloudy, with some patchy rain. dry for much of the day in east anglia, but that will change into the evening, because rain will really set in across south—west england and east anglia during wednesday evening, wednesday night and into thursday. at the same time, you can follow our weather front into northern scotland. once the rain arrives here, it will hang around for quite some time. but for most of us, first thing on thursday morning, we are back to square one. low pressure in charge, a mixture of sunshine and showers. the showers during thursday will be heaviest when you are closer to the centre of the area of low pressure, so parts of scotland and northern ireland. here, we will see heavy showers, with hail and some thunder. quite slow—moving, as well, because winds will be light. so for northern england, the midlands, further south and east, rather more in the way of dry weather, and that is where we will have the highest temperatures, as well. the sunshine and showers then continues on to friday. the best of the dry weather towards the south—east. most of the showers

in the north—west. you're watching breakfast. the main stories: after 65 years of service, prince philip prepares to step back from public life. he will meet royal marines in his final appearance before a officially retiring from royal duties. good morning. it's wednesday, the second of august. also coming up this morning... i've given up my car, i can't afford holidays. more thani million car, i can't afford holidays. more than 1 million women car, i can't afford holidays. more thani million women have become poorer because of delays to their state pensions, according to new research.