this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. could there be a catalan catastrophe for spain? the region's economy is worth 200 billion euros and accounts for a quarter of the country's exports and tourists. we'll assess what's at stake if catalonia goes it alone. live from london, it's thursday, 5th october. as spain's economic powerhouse, catalonia, threatens to declare independence, we'll be looking at the potential impact for the rest of the country. also in the programme... it's a giant of the internet, but a minnow in the world of mobile phones. can google‘s new pixel device change that? we take a closer look. we are keeping a close eye on the

markets, the spanish market is up, as you can see. would you sell your car to get your business off the ground? we'll meet the woman who did just that to get her children's book agency up and running. imagine a workplace where no—one serves in the canteen and there's no receptionist — a work space firm in china is setting up offices which are totally automated. today we want to know, do you need the human touch at work? let us know. just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. we have a nice mix of both in the studio! a lot of robots, sally and i are real and studio! a lot of robots, sally and i are realand our studio! a lot of robots, sally and i are real and our guests are too. we start in spain, where the region of catalonia is threatening to declare independence on monday, after holding its banned referendum at the weekend.

behind the push for independence is, among other things, the feeling among many catalans that the region doesn't get a fair deal, given its huge economic importance to spain. catalonia's economy was worth 212 billion euros in 2016 — the highest gdp out of all the regions in spain. in fact, it's a bigger economy than portugal, greece, the czech republic or many other smaller eu countries. it accounts for around i7% of the entire spanish economy, covering sectors like food, chemicals, cars, and energy production. but its exports are even more important. they were worth over 65 billion euros last year, meaning catalonia accounts for well over a quarter of all spanish exports. its location on the mediterranean means it's a vital port for spain. it's also hugely important for tourism — 18 million foreigners visited the region last year, almost a quarter of all trips to the country.

but it's not all good news. catalonia is the most indebted of all the spanish regions — debt has tripled since 2008 and is now at 35% of gdp. some analysis now. angel talavera, eurozone economist from 0xford economics is with me. is it realistic to think it can do it alone? catalonia could be an independent state hypothetically as it has the structures in place and we have seen smaller countries become independent. i do not think thatis become independent. i do not think that is the question. the question is, can you realistically expect to declare independence through a process that is not recognised by anyone internationally and that means you will be excluded from the eu, the eurozone? can you go forward

with that way and think there would be no impact? i do not think so. the economic impact would be enormous. the point about the movement is largely ignoring this. there is a hot debate, one way of describing it, on the subject, both sides seek to be poles apart at the moment in terms of what the government in madrid is saying and the president of catalonia is saying —— both sides seem to be. what will be the resolution in the end? there is no end in sight is the short answer. no quick fix can get us back to a situation of normality. the central government's position is very clear, they want to uphold the law and they are not in the mood for negotiating. the catalan movement also has gone far with this, so in the short term, we will continue to see a lot of political noise. eventually, we could see a potential suspension of the autonomy if the catalan parliament declares independence but it is not clear they will go ahead with that. what is the impact in the

meantime? 0n with that. what is the impact in the meantime? on tuesday, a general strike in catalonia. very short—term impact. in the long term, what will be impact beyond the economy, businesses? interestingly, this is the worst political crisis in spain in recent history, but the effects on the country so far have been limited, if any, on the country so far have been limited, ifany, at on the country so far have been limited, if any, at least in any way we can measure. but if we continue to see an escalation and strikes and the tension gets worse and equities fall down quite a lot, of course, it will have potential effects on the economy in the long run. so far, quite muted. thank you very much for coming in. of course, it is a story we have been across since the beginning of the week. since the weekend. we will keep you across that story. much more on the website. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... the uk and europe must agree on a brexit transition deal by christmas or risk banks triggering their contingency plans and moving operations overseas. that's the warning from the bank of england.

speaking at the annual mansion house banquet, deputy governor sam woods said that while the uk is committed to an implementation period, the eu's position is not yet clear. shares in orlando—based seaworld are trading up nearly 5%. it follows reports that uk—based theme park operator, merlin entertainments, has approached the marine park operator about a potential deal. merlin, which runs legoland parks worldwide and owns madame tussauds, has reportedly made a bid for part of seaworld. however, seaworld would prefer to sell itself whole. airfares in europe have risen by up to 43% since ryanair began cancelling thousands of flights two weeks ago. that is according to a study from a travel website which says the average price for a return economy flight was most expensive

from britain to milan, of all places, they went up by 43%. the price of tickets to malaga and dublin, up by 30%. —— up by 30% and 2596 dublin, up by 30%. —— up by 30% and 25% respectively. this is on our business live page. 0n the 20th of november, 1947, what happened in this country? there was a big wedding, i believe. yeah, the queen got married! to prince philip. they are coming up for their 70th year wedding anniversary. ben is desperately trying to find you this picture. i have got it on the internet! talk amongst yourselves! two heads are better than one. the queen and prince philip are appearing on calling together for the very first time. you cannot find it! maybe later! the limited edition sovereign

coin featuring the queen and prince philip together. there we go! congratulations. it did take a 70 yea rs congratulations. it did take a 70 years to find that! i was looking at yesterday's page. there you go! another proof he is human not a robot. let us talk about india. how can india respond to a changing global economy and is the country doing enough to speed up reform? those are two of the key issues for those at the india economic summit taking place in delhi. devina gupta is there for us. so much to talk about. absolutely. we have been speaking to a lot of indian leaders and global leaders who have made their way to the india economic summit. 0ne who have made their way to the india economic summit. one issue is the cash ban, almost 80% of the currency

was declared illegal overnight. the other big reform was of taxation, goods and services, where the government hoped to create a single tax system which has not gone down well with small businesses and exporters suffering, hence the dialogue at the summit is, where is the indian economy going? talking about global turmoil, is india dealing with domestic challenges? india was one of the bright spots in asia, the third largest economy in asia, the third largest economy in asia, but can it sustain itself? the central bank has issued a warning yesterday that it is a slowdown, they have reduced the growth projections to 6.7%. the government has been talking about how they have made the right economic decisions, defending their decisions yesterday by the prime minister as well, but it will have to wait and see whether businesses are convinced to invest

in india. we will watch closely. good to talk to you. live in delhi for us. at the economic summit taking place in delhi. staying in the region... shares in asia got a boost from new record closes on wall street but the region's markets ending largely flat after investors banked some profits. in the us, strong service sector data following on from better than expected manufacturing numbers which helped lift the dow to that new high. in europe, investors are watching events in spain very closely as to what happens next in the war of words between spain's leaders and catalan president. but rather than declare independence immediately, they've reiterated an offer for mediated talks, despite criticism of madrid's heavy handed tactics during the vote. it has been pretty volatile over the

last week or so. the stock market across europe but in spain particularly saw one of its biggest falls, below the 10,000 level, but back up now. borrowing costs up sharply. as a whole. let us had to the us. investors remain upbeat about the prospects for the us economy, fuelling yet another record high for the dowjones industrial average. they may want to raise a glass when constellation brands reports second—quarter results. it is likely to boost stronger profits and sales helped by the property of its beers. turning its fourth—quarter profits, cosco, keeping the higher membership fees and stronger sales online, keeping the good feeling going. latest us trade figures are going to be

published by the commerce department. the president has made fighting the balance a priority but the problem might not be as big as he makes out. the latest data is expected to show the trade deficit narrowed in september. we have a very familiar face. joining us is justin urquhart—stewart. you are listening to us earlier talking about spain, your thoughts? it is another concern as to what is happening with the eu. the economies have picked up generally. the overall figures, although our press does not reflect it, the economies are doing rather well. the damage has already been done by the euro which is youth unemployment still at 50%, but nonetheless, the spanish economy has recovered well. in a position were now where unemployment has come down to 17%. i have not got the latest data in my head, but some regions have got youth unemployment

at 70%. it is chronic. this was caused by the single currency. a pattern use or in portugal, ireland as well. —— a pattern use all. the economy has started picking up. the key problem because catalonia is the powerhouse of spain. if that pulls apart, that will be significant problems for the rest. also, it is a reflection of what happens in the rest of europe, they are terrified. what would happen to somewhere like belgium? and we know in the uk we have the same issue as well. what happens if catalonia pulls out and goes its own way? it sets a pretty dangerous precedent. and that is why you have then got a situation where the eu themselves are against it and although people in catalonia are probably very pro the eu, the eu does not want to have another separate member because it would

encourage others. this precedent is also for scotland, scotland declares independence, separate member of the eu, particularly if that uk is moving away. for a controlled eu economy, this is not what you want. that is exactly the perspective we are talking about, a dangerous precedent, it is not the perception of those in catalonia, they feel it is their right, democracy, independence. the trouble is, pat richards is the last refuge of a coward, you wrap yourself in the flag and hope for the best, not a good idea. —— the trouble is, patriotism is the last refuge of a coward. still to come... selling your car to get your business dream off the ground — we'll be meeting a woman who's set up a children's book agency. you're with business live from bbc news.

the furniture retailer dfs has warned that the market remains ‘challenging' after reporting a 22% fall in pre—tax profits, coming in at £50.1 million. laith khalaf, senior analyst at hargreaves la nsdown, has been looking at the numbers for us — he joins us now from bristol. laith, good to see you. falling profits — how bad is it for dfs? we have seen this with other retailers. yes, dfs warned 's in june about this. the company is now looking to a range of self—help measures in terms of increasing operational efficiency —— they

warned us. and also trying to drive growth going forward because customers are coming through its doors. what has prompted the decline? phil us in on the detail. two main things have been factors behind this. one is a weakening of stirling, particularly against the dollar, and that has affected the cost of the supplies that dfs itself as it had paid —— a weakening of sterling. a slowdown in consumer demand is another thing, because we have a challenging consumer environment. two things, won the rise of inflation and also weak wage growth. big—ticket items like sofas the first thing to go when it comes to your household budget, not things like groceries, and we have seen that in things like declining car sales as well and dfs are expecting that trend to continue for the foreseeable future. an interesting one and a lot of other retailers in a similar position. thank you for

talking to us, laith khalaf from bristol. you have the tablet? yes, it is in safe hands. let's get on to the stories out there. a lot of reaction to the prime minister's speech at the conservative party conference, and i'm notjust speaking about the p 45, cough sweets, not being able to finish a sentence, but some reaction from the chief executive of british gas to one of the policy announcements made about a price cap for energy, for certain homes in the uk, to the chief executive talking to the bbc and saying there is a real risk cheap energy bills will disappear if the government pushes ahead with the price cap. it says to read more on their website. hello. you're watching business live — our top story: could there be a catalan catastrophe for spain? we have been talking about the

country's economic powerhouse. catalan has an economy worth more than 200 billion euros a year — threatens to declare independence. but we have been talking about the possible impact on spain and the rest of the eurozone. a quick look at how markets are faring... this is the picture emerging at the moment. in the book world, it is super thursday and we're not talking about the bank world at all, but publishing and books and christmas. do you know why it is on thursday? because it is the book publishers' day when hundreds of hardbacks are released and the battle for the christmas market when it comes to books. we are talking about christmas already! 0n christmas already! on october the theft. but the question is if you're in that kind of market and we all imagine it to be fairly cut—throat, how do you make your business idea a reality? and how far would you go to make your business idea a reality?

would you sell your house, or your car, for instance? well, our next guest did just that. in 2003, vicki willden—lebrecht founded the bright agency, which specialises in children's books, at the age of 23 from her bedroom. 14 years later, the agency now represents 300 artists and authors from around the world, and award—winning titles like the storm whale and grandad's island have been translated and published in over 30 countries. vicki willden—lebrecht is the founder of the bright agency and joins us now. really nice to see you. welcome to business live. thank you for having me. we said this, selling your car, getting your business off the ground, you have had a number of jobs and that time? only one, selling frozen foods door—to—door. when i do these things everyone is interested in hearing about it but it was just a summer holidayjob, but it did teach me about motivation, time management, people and sales skills, and i did it in the evenings when everyone was home soi the evenings when everyone was home so i could run the business in the day, so i would do my business in

the day and about four o'clock i would get the train to crawley, pick up would get the train to crawley, pick upa van, would get the train to crawley, pick up a van, fill it with ice and stock and go door—to—door selling food, which was my income while i was still growing the agency. it is hard graft, but well you are selling other people's books, and in your case you focus on children's books, how do you get started? how do you become successful, how do people come to know about you and want you to be the one to publish their books? i have come from a creative background, so i did visual communications at university, it all the way through, so i kind of instinctively know and understand that creatives really excel in a safe environment where they are listened to and care for and their well—being, it is notjust about their idea but about finding the right publishers to publish their work, and publishers, they have personalities in themselves, and eve ryo ne personalities in themselves, and everyone has a sort of huge care and responsibility in children's publishing, and it is funny. it is cut—throat. anything that is

successful will always have an element of that but i think in children's publishing element of that but i think in child ren's publishing especially, eve ryo ne child ren's publishing especially, everyone wants the best book it can possibly be and they want that book to go beyond, so the child and the next generation is getting the right values, the right morals, so things like diversity, inclusion, so although we can't change the confused world, which you have just been speaking about with catalonia, we can have children have the tools... but how do you, today in this day and age now, get children to read books, when there isjust so much out there for them? tablets, devices, gaming, everything else going on. i know i spirit we want our kids to read and we want them to read these moral messages about adversity and wonderful world but in fa ct adversity and wonderful world but in fact they are just on you tube watching the latest blog —— i know that as parents we want our kids to read. this world was full of fear, because of the tablet, because no one would be reading a book and no

one would be reading a book and no one would be reading a book and no one would read the printed word again, but what has happened, it is through digital and the development of that, it has allowed books to be rediscovered, and i think the quality of children's publishing has enhanced so much, and no parent ever says, i read to my child for two hours last night, they say that, but nobody ever says, it was great, they we re nobody ever says, it was great, they were on the tablet for three hours last night. they are spending more time reading than they ever have done, and it is the golden age of publishing and we're really embracing that, and i think the digital for embracing that, and i think the digitalfor us, we are only 14 embracing that, and i think the digital for us, we are only 14 years old and our artists are world award—winning, bestselling, because we are discovering their availability through social media so it has enhanced what we do. u nfortu nately we a re it has enhanced what we do. unfortunately we are out of time. so much more we could discuss. vicki, thank you so much for coming in. i feel so guilty as mum. i do read to my kids, but not for two hours a night. i don't think those people

would read for two hours and it... 0k, would read for two hours and it... ok, i am off the hook again. from low—tech books, to the latest tech from google. the tech giant has just unveiled its latest devices. but compared to apple and samsung, google remains a small player — but hopes its latest pixel devices could change all that. our technology correspondent rory cellanjones has been taking a look at what's on offer. last year google brought out its first branded high—end smartphone, the pixel, designed to show off all that's best in its android operating system. now, we've got pixel 2. what's different? well, one key thing — the screen looks bigger. it goes further to the edge in basically the same real estate. other key thing — right at the heart of google's pixel phones is the google assistant, the smart assistant. and now there a quicker way to get to it. you could talk to it, you could tap on it. now, you canjust squeeze the phone, and up it comes. google, what's so special about this? here are some results from a search. now, i don't think i've seen a new high—end smartphone launched in recent years where the makers haven't claimed that it's got the best camera ever, and google is no exception. they say the pixel 2 takes amazing photos, particularly in low light, and one feature they're really

boasting about is the ability to take a portrait with the background blurred, out of focus. beautiful portraits. now, the key thing here, because you can get that feature and a lot of phones these days, is that they are doing it with just one lens. they said they're using a lot of clever software, machine learning, to be able to do that with just one camera. that was rory cellan—jones there. justin is back to look through some of the business papers. we will still with the tech theme, china, and things, restaurants, going fully robot? yes, you can turn up going fully robot? yes, you can turn up and there is no one in the shop, going shopping, you use your mobile phone to get around, pick up some stuff, pay for it and get out. it deducts what you have removed off your account, actually, so there is actually no human interface at all. heaven knows what happens if you have a question. that is surely a

living hell. the idea you go to an office, there is nobody there. of course one of the great point of an office, you have a coffee machine. you have to... people talk! it is not just you have to... people talk! it is notjust forfun. you have to... people talk! it is not just for fun. that you have to... people talk! it is notjust for fun. that is where business gets done. that is how ideas are created. absolutely, you need those sorts of things! people having arguments, all those sorts of things you need to have an business because it is alive, it has a personality, and if you take that out of it, there goes. qc. justin, a great personality. they wouldn't want him to disappear, with the? the robots are going to come over here and take us over in a minute. well, wejust argue all the and take us over in a minute. well, we just argue all the time. that's it from business live today. we will season. goodbye. —— see you soon.

it has been a rather windy night with bales affecting parts of england and wales, but gradually through this morning that rain is clearing away and the winds are easing down, and for many of us there will be some good sunny spells. the last of the rain clears away from mid to late morning then lots of sunshine across most parts of the uk. we can see a few showers developing across northern and western scotland, through the cheshire cat as well, but for most of us through this afternoon we're looking at the time and temperatures 15-17 -- the looking at the time and temperatures 15—17 —— the cheshire gap. perhaps feeling quite chilly at times and mostly further north, temperatures just a little lower. showers around merseyside and the greater manchester area. a few into northern ireland and the north and west of scotla nd ireland and the north and west of scotland as well, with the strongest of the winds will be. temperatures there, really only about 10—11dc.

through this evening and tonight, still showers coming into north wales and the merseyside area, but for most of us clear skies underneath this ridge of high pressure. it will turn pretty chilly. these are the temperatures in towns and cities. in the countryside it will be lower than that and might even be low enough to create some grass frost first thing on friday morning. we start off with that cold and, for some, a cold start to the day, —— a frosty start to the day. later winds compared to today. feeling more pleasant in the sunshine. temperatures about 15 or 16 degrees. more cloud and rain moving into the for north west of scotland, pushing the high pressure system further. 0pening scotland, pushing the high pressure system further. opening up the doors really to the atlantic flow. into the weekend it will be quite cloudy, quite breezy at times as well. and there will be rain coming with that as well. in between the bands of

rain there will be a few bright spells. this is saturday, the start of the morning and a rather blustery zero. by the afternoon this rain becoming more a patchy, staying quite cloudy but a few bright spells developing here and there. sunday will probably be the driest day of the weekend. a few showers, largely cloudy skies and temperatures about 15-17d. cloudy skies and temperatures about 15—17d. more details on the website. that is it for me. goodbye. hello, it's thursday, it's 9am, i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme. our top story today... the vultures are swooping on theresa may, with some tories questioning how long she can stay on as prime minister after this speech. applause she coughs strength shared around

the globe... really keen to hear your views throughout the programme. do get in touch in the usual ways and we'll hear from some of you throughout the programme. also this morning... did former british prime minister ted heath sexually abuse boys? a police report is expected to say there would be grounds to question him on allegations, were he alive today. his godson tells us the investigation is a witchhunt.