if you buy a charity christmas card, you assume you're doing some good. but could those cards have been packed using forced prison labour? also in the programme — hitting that musical high note in mumbai — we look at how india is attracting the likes of u2 and katie perry to perform. and china says it will make it

cheeper to import everything from paper to pork — could 2020 be the end of tariffs and trade wars? and we'll be getting the inside track on the wonderful world of welsh whiskey with a small dram of the good stuff. from trees to turkeys and even tinsel, the cost of christmas is rising — we want to know how you save those pennies while keeping that festive cheer. let us know — just use the hashtag #bbcworklife. hello and welcome to worklife. supermarket giant tesco has just suspended production of charity christmas cards at a factory in china after a six—year—old girl found a message from workers inside one. the note was allegedly written by prisoners in shanghai claiming they were "forced to work against our will". tesco says it's "shocked" by the report and would never allow prison labour in its supply chain.

the supermarket‘s begun an investigation and says production at the factory in question has been suspended. katie prescott reports. ready? uh-huh. here we go. it was six—year—old schoolgirl florence widdicombe who'd sat down at home to write christmas cards to her friends and family, when she discovered that one of the cards had already been written in. we were writing in them and about on my sixth or eighth card, somebody had already written in it. there was a message, which read... the first thought was it must be some kind of prank. but on reflection, we realised it was actually potentially quite a serious thing. and so i felt very shocked but i also felt a responsibility to pass it on to peter humphrey,

as the author asked me to do. the family did just that, and got in touch with the human rights journalist peter humphrey, who the message in the card suggested they contact. he himself had spent time in the qingpu prison for his part in an alleged corruption scandal. i spent two years in captivity in shanghai between 2013 and 2015, and my final nine months of that captivity was in this very prison, in this very cell block where this message has come from, and these prisoners are living a very bleak daily life. there are 12 prisoners per cell. they sleep in very rusty iron bunk beds with a mattress which is not more than about one centimetre thick. a tesco spokeswoman said the company was shocked and that it would never allow prison labour in its supply chain. it has now launched an investigation and production at the factory has been suspended. katie prescott, bbc news.

let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. boeing's starliner astronaut space craft has returned to earth after a failed mission to the international space station. the uncrewed demonstration flight launched successfully, but then suffered technical problems. it appears — the capsule burnt too much fuel — as it fired its thrusters, leaving, an insufficient supply to complete its planned mission. the chinese telecoms firm huawei has received a boost in italy, after the country's industry minister — stefano patuanelli — said the firm should be allowed to help build italy's 56 network. the announcement comes after italy's parliamentary security committee warned late last week, that huawei involvement could pose security risks. and the latest star wars film is proving to be another blockbuster hit. the rise of skywalker‘s raked in $374 million in global ticket sales in its opening weekend, however that figure is below earlier films in the trilogy. still, the latest instalment ranked as one of the best december openings in north america.

been to see it? i haven't. are you going to? perhaps ifi been to see it? i haven't. are you going to? perhaps if i find time between all the christmas shopping! it may only be just two more sleeps to christmas, but with family's spending upwards of $1,000 on average, how are you handling the cost of those high—priced festivities? with us is russ mould, investment director, a] bell. do you have a budget? do you think most people have a budget?” do you have a budget? do you think most people have a budget? i think so most people have a budget? i think so but keeping control of it is probably harder. it's harder to keep control of spending if you're handing over cash and a lot harder if you're shopping online. people might think they are getting a good deal and then spend an extra few pounds. is that when people get into trouble, when the credit card bill comes? i think that is the danger,

particularly when people are paying in instalments. 0ne online retailer we re in instalments. 0ne online retailer were saying if you can't pay now we can give you five instalments and i think that's where some of the trouble can begin. it's interesting because we've seen heavy discounting in the run—up to christmas, people not having to wait until new year sales or anything like that. the opportunity for keeping spending under control is there if people are a bit savvy. i think retailers have got a bit smarter about not offering their core products on discount this year. quite a lot of retailers couldn't find them on the discounted price but had to pay full price. retailers are actually getting smarter at designing products especially for black friday. customers might think they are getting a bargain but they are actually buying something at a lower price but has possibly been designed toa price but has possibly been designed to a slightly lower specs. the physical cost is cheaper but it might not be the real deal you think. we know this period is

crucial for retailers. for six weeks is where they make all their money. so far what are the signs that they are going to come through? are the majority of retailers going to come through? us consumer confidence figures are very high, in the uk figures are very high, in the uk figures are very high, in the uk figures are nowhere near as buoyant. that's partly because of the political situation here but in the uk it is starting to improve but footfall has been very weak and the weather has been terrible. 0nline is finding it harderas weather has been terrible. 0nline is finding it harder as well because the discounting has been so aggressive. the things i bought online on black friday i would have paid full price for, to be honest. i think retailers have put themselves ina bit think retailers have put themselves in a bit of the trap. a race to the bottom. i'm afraid so. online retailers feeling the squeeze as well. there are two or three really

big beasts like amazon and at boohoo, the big two or three are finding it easier to attract more customers and the littler ones are having to compete with them. we know it's easier to find online but it's not always if there is something on the second page of google, nobody can find you there. thank you, have a lovely christmas, don't spend too much. i'm done! don't forget to let us much. i'm done! don't forget to let us know how you are keeping your spending under control. china has announced it will reduce tariffs on over 850 products from the beginning of next year in a bid to promote trade and reduce costs. 0ur asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore. welcome, what's your analysis as to why they are doing this? well, it is

products ranging from everything from frozen pork to avocados and kicks into gear from january the 1st 2020. it seems like china is trying to do what it always says it's wanted to do, to open up the economy, to become a more free market. although the statement today from the ministry of finance didn't specify in any way the mention of the us, that is also what washington has been saying to china it should do as the backdrop, the background to all of this is the us china trade war. in the past, china has used high tariffs to protect its domestic industries and many of the decisions today to lower tariffs will actually benefit some of its trading partners away from the us, countries like new zealand, peru, singapore and pakistan. if you dig a little deeper, china benefits too, and the thing that struck me was beijing's

decision to lower tariffs on frozen pork. it's unsurprising because african swine fever has hit the country's reserves and these lower tariffs could help to relieve pork shortages in the country and bring food prices down altogether. you talk about who benefits, does anyone lose out? i think there is not a direct loser in this but the move does help to keep trading channels open with other countries at a time when the us and china are engaged in what has been a protracted 18 month trade war, something we talk about oi'i trade war, something we talk about on the network all the time. put this into perspective, the us has consistently said since the trump administration has been in power but it's all about america first which means it's been rewriting trade relationships with many of its partners including china. that is what has led to this tense relationship with the us. while all of that has been going on, china has

actually been reducing tariffs for other countries. i think this is in line with the fact that it can reduce its dependence on us suppliers and encourage more trade between china and the rest of the world. thank you. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. joining me is james innes, author & founder, james innes group. get to see you. we picked this from the telegraph. the legal case that british american tobacco is finding itself embroiled in. earlier you we re itself embroiled in. earlier you were discussing the tesco china charity cards prison labour story that has been all over the years and i feel this is related. highlighting abusive labour. british american tobacco in a landmark court case described as modern slavery. tobacco

farm children, for example in malawi. they are skipping school. there was an attempt that failed backin there was an attempt that failed back in the 90s. bat maintain they have done all that they can to stop child labour and activists dismissed these claims. there are many other cases of abusive labour around the world. when are we going to learn to treat others as we wish to be treated? i suppose it comes down to when people start asking the question, where does my cigarette come from? i imagine most smokers don't give it a second thought. this isjust one don't give it a second thought. this is just one example don't give it a second thought. this isjust one example of abusive labour around the world, and the fa ct labour around the world, and the fact young children are missing school, their parents went educated and they have the opportunity to be educated and they are being taken out of school to farm tobacco. te na nts a re out of school to farm tobacco. tenants are routinely forced into

this. when you've got global supply chains it can be tricky to keep tabs on where... that is the case for tesco as well, it is very hard in such a global economy, to keep tabs on this. british american tobacco, they know that the farming is going on, they do know some of this and they maintain they have done all they maintain they have done all they can to stop child labour but they can to stop child labour but they are in close contact on tesco for example with this factory in china. we want to look at this article in the guardian as well. the awards for worst customer service. leaf this is a very amusing piece. awards for worst customer service. leaf this is a very amusing piecelj leaf this is a very amusing piece.” think in particular i love the categories she has chosen, clearly representing the issues we all face as modern consumers. the first one is most profiteering, the car hire sector with insurance. who hasn't been shafted by a car hire service?

all those add—ons you don't know about until you get your bill at the end of it. you drop your car back and thena end of it. you drop your car back and then a week later they've picked up and then a week later they've picked upa and then a week later they've picked up a scratch. the telecom sector, with the broadband clause. planned or unplanned outages are not cove red. or unplanned outages are not covered. nor are faults in the home environment. laughter they bake demand some money back. have a lovely christmas. still to come — the welsh whiskey takes on scotch. we meet master of malt behind wales' award—winning whiskies that are taking on their better known rivals from north of the border. you're with worklife from bbc news. do you still need to do your christmas food shop? if so, you're not alone. 13 million of us are expected to head for the supermarkets today.

it's the busiest day of the year for grocery shopping — sean farrington's in birmingham to tell us more. i've got to pick up a yule log before the end of the day! i won't before the end of the day! i won't be making it from scratch, don't worry. it is the busiest day of the yearfor worry. it is the busiest day of the year for grocery shopping. sean farrington is in birmingham to tell us more. farrington is in birmingham to tell us more. the isles are looking remarkably calm! maybe here everybody stops, the last thing you wa nt everybody stops, the last thing you want when you're doing your christmas shop is a reporter getting in the way! it is starting to get a bit dizzy. 13 million people, £800 million expected to be spent. it's the busiest shopping day for food of the busiest shopping day for food of the year. good morning, diane. you count the people hitting the shops at springboard. do you feel like when you look at the numbers that we are hitting the shops more than last year or less? definitely less. the figures we had this morning for last

week show that fitful, the volume of activity in our retail destinations and stores, dropped by over 7% from last year —— footfall. it is a really sharp drop. footfall went into a lull after black friday so we haven't built up over that period. much of this steam is taken out of oui’ much of this steam is taken out of our christmas shopping by black friday. is it that more of a sick doing it online and being more prepared and getting the delivery slots filled up? —— more of us are doing it online. there is a blend of reasons. a lot of people did their present buying early on black friday. they took advantage of the increased discounting. then, yes, online shopping has grown but there has been an increasing experience buying. instead of buying physical presence, a lot of people are buying days out, meals out, tickets for things. they have replaced traditional presence. thank you. 13

million people, a lot of money spent, three times busier than your average monday. if you're going out today, the ready for the busy aisles and checkouts. i think we are in mortalfear and checkouts. i think we are in mortal fear that the and checkouts. i think we are in mortalfear that the shop and checkouts. i think we are in mortal fear that the shop isn't going to be open for one whole day! what if you need something on that day? we'll survive. stay with us. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story — supermarket giant tesco has just suspended production of charity christmas cards at a factory in china after a six—year—old girl found a message from workers inside one. now, if there was ever a time to indulge in yourfavourite drink, it would be christmas. whisky is usually a top choice of a tipple — and for many drinkers of the spirit — if its whisky, it must be from scotland. well, one company that's hoping to change that is penderyn distillery.

founded in 2004, it's the only commercial whisky distillery in wales. the firm's chief executive, stephen daviesjoins us now. welcome to the programme. it is a well—established product associated strongly with scotland and ireland. why did you think he would try and get people to buy welsh whiskey? why did you think he would try and get people to buy welsh whiskey7m has been over 100 years since whiskey has been distilled in wales. we decided to bring back a tradition that had been a lost art. the idea of whiskey from wales, if we go back ten or15 of whiskey from wales, if we go back ten or 15 years ago lacked a lot of credibility but over the last few years we have been building that credibility and winning a lot of awards and critical acclaim. we feel we've got something we can shout about. whiskey takes time to age. how did you take on the challenge in trying to assert yourself into this

pretty oversubscribed market?m trying to assert yourself into this pretty oversubscribed market? it is a huge challenge because of the duration it takes to mature the product. it is a single malt, you need to mature it for a minimum of three years but preferably a bit longer. we have whiskeys up to 19 years old in our warehouse, it was really tough in the early days from the credibility and cash point of view. to look at it, it is a similar colour, the bottle looks like any whiskey you would get in the shops, how does it differ? we make it on slightly different stills to those in most other parts of the world. it's a single copper pot and a very light, delicate, fruity whiskey. it is not as heavy as some of the ones you might enjoy. there is a risk assessment because we have to be careful we don't smash the bottle. laughter what about export markets? for

scotla nd what about export markets? for scotland it is a huge industry and huge revenue stream. it is a very big export product. now we sell in 40 countries across the world, france and germany and europe are big export markets, the usa. in asia, taiwan and japan and china is emerging. export is a big part of the future of the business. this time of yeara the future of the business. this time of year a lot of whiskey is discounted, what do these bottles go for? anything from £30 up to maybe £600 a bottle. how do you justify that? the single casks in the warehouse and there will be 200 bottles and that cask strength, 55% abv. once it's gone it's gone so they are collectible and special whiskeys. once it's gone it's gone and so is whoever has been sipping it at 54%! the price point is

obviously one thing but i suppose if you are trying to get it into key markets, how important is it to get it into for example hotels and the upper end supermarket?” it into for example hotels and the upper end supermarket? i think it's very important. to be seen in places you would describe as prestige locations in all parts of the world is very important. if you see it at the bar of is very important. if you see it at the barofa is very important. if you see it at the bar of a luxury hotel, people are more likely to take it seriously and if you are in some of the places like harrods in london where you can cd single casks available then people feel more confident explore —— you can people feel more confident explore “ you can see people feel more confident explore —— you can see the single casks. tell us about where you are located. we are in the brecon beacons about an hours drive north of cardiff or swansea. it's a beautiful location with a natural spring because you need good water to make it whiskey. as well as being a manufacturing

location we are a tourism business as well. we have people visit us year round to understand the process and enjoy the story we were whiskey fun you got involved customer my father introduced me to scotch whisky and i love to explore the whole single malt world. it's all about sipping and not overindulging. whiskey with an e or without an e? without an ethos for the —— without cut an e for us, the scots and the canadian spot with an e for the american i thank you very much. ——thank you very much. in a moment, we'll run through some viewer responses to our twitter question. but first, let's turn to india, where many are flocking to stadiums

to experience their favourite artists live in action. from u2 last weekend to katy perry earlier this year, global artists are increasingly adding india as a stop to their tour itineraries. so why‘s india now a hot destination for these live events? i messaged my friend, we've got to break the bank for this. # i wanna reach out and touch the flame. # i want to feel sunlight on my face. more and more artists are asking about coming here to perform, and so there is no question there are going to be more shows coming. india cannot be ignored any more. we have a very young population, it's one of the world's largest youth populations. it is one of the last bastions. you've done north america, you've done in europe. if you want to build your next base

of hundreds of millions of consumers, and you want to tour the market, you want to get your music out to these consumers, this is where the market is. look at the past decade. the average household income has grown by 1.5 times. and if you look at the decade that comes, the average household income will grow by another 1.5 times, and these people are ready to consume notjust products, they are also willing to consume experiences. i think it's really the taxation and infrastructure. we tend to overspend on infrastructure, on building infrastructure for each event. the taxation in this country for live events is extremely high. it is 28%. if we address these two issues, then this is a real viable business. this will become a rock solid high growth high—frequency high margin contribution business

in the years to come. # where the streets have no name...#. at the top of the show, we asked you about how you keep your christmas spending down. let's take a look at how some viewers have responded. we'll just we'lljust think we'll just think it's we'lljust think it's christmas, it's fine, i'll deal with it in january. it's not just it's fine, i'll deal with it in january. it's notjust the presence, is the day is out, theatre, cinema.

it all adds up. have a lovely christmas. bye for now. it's christmas week and if you were hoping for a blanket of snow to wake up hoping for a blanket of snow to wake up on christmas day, you may be disappointed. there is some rain in the forecast throughout the week but for most of us today, it's going to be dry. some sunny spells and a few showers around. we've got this area of cloud towards the atlantic moving infor of cloud towards the atlantic moving in for christmas eve. there will be may meeting and but for most of the day it is dry. showers this morning mostly across scotland and western areas of england and wales. by this afternoon drifting away a bit further east. for many, some sunshine throughout the afternoon with maximum temperatures up to about 7—9. maybe 10—11 further south. through the night, continuing

to see the cloud in the south—west without breaks of rain moving north and east. some of it could be quite heavyin and east. some of it could be quite heavy in the early part of the morning. perhaps a touch of frost in the far north east of scotland. three christmas eve, this complicated weather will bring outbreaks of rain, it will be drifting away is those things should improve into the afternoon. replaced by some showers coming into southern areas with sunny spells, sunny spells for scotland and the north of ireland on christmas eve. by the afternoon mostly dry with maximum temperatures similar to today. through the evening, not a lot of change, the rain continuing to play with one or two showers coming into the north—west, those could turn a bit wintry as beginning to christmas day. technically there could be a white christmas with one or two snow

showers in the north but otherwise a ridge of high pressure developing the christmas day so actually, while it will be chilly, there will be a frost locally and lots of sunshine throughout the day on wednesday. with that, lots of dry weather and temperatures about 6—9. perfect weather if you want to take a walk to burn off the turkey. as we go through into boxing day, rain spreading towards the east with a bit of snow over higher ground for a time. further showers moving behind that area of rain and top temperatures about 6—10 or 11. bye— bye.

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