the bbc news website carries the story of funke abimbola and her struggle to be treated fairly by employers. it follows a report from an official equality commission which found that around a third of ftse 100 companies have no ethnic minority representation on their boards. with me is anju solanki, founder of mea consulting group, a company advising firms on gender diversity. let's start with the state of the union address. i would imagine you had the pleasure of listening to some of that live

while you are on your way here this morning. what do you make of the reaction from the media? we are looking at bloomberg in particular. well, just having a look at the state of the union address, which is an annual ritual for the address, which is an annual ritualfor the president address, which is an annual ritual for the president to address congress on the state of the economy, and it really felt like this was more of a campaign rally, and looking at the article on bloomberg, they have really focused in on his optimism around the state of the economy, and his own patting on the back about the achievements that have been made. we know that he pledged the low unemployment rates down to his administration, however there is a bit of controversy around the fact that this was a positive economic trends and a positive economic trends and a positive trend from barack obama's time. and he also referred to the rewrite of the nafta agreement, which is a trade deal put in place between the us, mexico and canada,

which he believes is going to further boost economic output. so there has been a real tone of achievement. and also a change in narrative, because in this particular address, in this particular address, in this speech, he started out talking about inclusivity and really trying to tap into minority groups. i will ask you, if it is ok, to move your hair over your shoulder, because apparently that is where the microphone is, and oui’ where the microphone is, and our viewers where the microphone is, and oui’ viewers were where the microphone is, and our viewers were getting a lot of crackle from your gorgeous hair stop so let's talk about that, because this is what bloomberg points out, that despite his long, more than 80 minute address that was hailing blue—collar boom, boom in the american economy, benefiting everyone, actually they talked about the widening income inequality within the us economy, and how it has significantly widened, for example, in 2018. the gap is hugein example, in 2018. the gap is huge in the united states. many, many billionaires, and a

lot of very poor people at the other end. and this is something you see more in developing countries. the disparity between the rich and the poor. and what the us has really kind of lost as its middle class. and there is u nfortu nately a lot middle class. and there is unfortunately a lot of actions that have been taken by trump, which has really been at the disadvantage of those who are on the lower side of the income scale. and it is a really difficult thing to fix, because by nature the us economy is all about the american dream, it is all about the possibility of doing extremely well. and you are seeing all these companies explode to enormous sizes, with valuations in the billions. in some cases the trillions, in the likes of apple, et cetera. it is an extraordinary economy, isn't it? so you will see these huge disparities. you will see them, but it is all about regulatory control and it is all about the measures the government takes to minimise the impact and create that equality. and it isjust

the impact and create that equality. and it is just around healthcare, and equality. and it is just around healthca re, and he equality. and it is just around healthcare, and he talked about the fact that actually those who have pre—existing health conditions are going to benefit under his administration. we are seeing the complete opposite. and he also talked about the fact that we need to protect the insurance policies of the millions of americans who really like the system and in effect from the system. that was quite an unusual moment in his speech, wasn't it? it is com pletely his speech, wasn't it? it is completely against what the democrats are pushing for, which is a free and fair healthcare system. well, that's a very strategic narrative, but when you actually look at words and actions, they don't care at all, and unfortunately under his administration we have not seen that benefit from the healthcare seen that benefit from the healthca re system seen that benefit from the healthcare system for those who need it the most. obamacare, of course, was dismantled very quickly when he became president. let's move on to the guardian. get out if you can, the warning to 30,000 britons still in china. it is a very

strong, dramatic headline, almost bringing fear, to a degree. but as my correspondent earlier, robin brant, or bbc correspondent, i should say, not my personal correspondence, that it not my personal correspondence, thatitis not my personal correspondence, that it is not about the fear of getting the virus. it is more about the practicalities of leaving china if things do get worse in the future. absolutely, and actually, this isa absolutely, and actually, this is a very clear message that we are still in the midst of contagion, and we are seeing that this double—digit acceleration of infection, and the change in stance from our foreign office to advise 30,000 britons to leave china if it is possible. it is from that point of logistics, and we know we have not yet seen the full impact. because we have not seen impact. because we have not seen the full movement post the festive, new year period. and we know that each province will have authority to decide at which point their festive season which point their festive season ends and people can start moving. but once we see the full movement, i think we know that there is a chance

that this could spread even further. and just on that point around now the sars parallel, that has kind of got out of the window, because even though coronavirus is more infectious, lower mortality, the mortality absolute number has surpassed that of sars. yes, absolutely, and it is very hard to know how far this will go and when it can be contained. moving onto another article, this is the front page of the financial times, the industry was the revised 2035 goal for electric only cars risks backfiring, pardon the pun, in the ft. give us pardon the pun, in the ft. give us your take on this big announcement that was, you know, yesterday morning on the pa rt know, yesterday morning on the part of the government. well, right now we are in a real period of political positioning and really showing and positioning ourselves around what is important to us, and this is all around boris johnson's clear message that he ta kes johnson's clear message that he takes climate change very seriously, and the reason this

is coming out in the news now is coming out in the news now is because he said we are aiming for net zero emissions, but we are bringing our plans forward. and one way of doing thatis forward. and one way of doing that is to ban petrol, diesel cars, but also hybrid cars. and we're seeing a backlash from that, because it's great to have these grand gestures, but you need detail behind the plans. this raises questions on capital outlay on electric cars. they are really expensive. and it is notjust that, it is the infrastructure, isn't it? the infrastructure, charging points are not there. we don't have the infrastructure within our roads to really be on a point to say that we can do this. and that said, with these plans, this outlaws 98% of our current vehicles, so there also needs to bea vehicles, so there also needs to be a dialogue with car manufacturers, electric car manufacturers, electric car manufacturers, on the reality of meeting that supply. and something that is clear and a lot of these articles, it is not just the lot of these articles, it is notjust the ft, many have these stories about the pressure on the car industry in

the uk. it is having a really tough time for lots of reasons. we asked you for your opinions on this, by the way, and you have got in touch. many of you, so have got in touch. many of you, so paul says the price is holding me back. steve henderson, you are in the north of england, thank you for getting in touch. this time, the question i feel is irrelevant. it is a case of coming, ready or not. because i asked the question are you getting ready to switch to electric. phil says we need a car that can do over 700 miles on one charge, and quicker recharging. and it is this whole range anxiety, as well, apart from everything else, isn't it? there are so many questions still. absolutely. let's move on to euractiv, which is looking at paris aiming to become britain's top financial hub in a post brexit world. your thoughts on this, you worked on banking for some time. i did. so this is really some positioning, and it is

around sentiment. what we have seen around sentiment. what we have seen is a shift injobs around sentiment. what we have seen is a shift in jobs over to paris from london. so quite a few ba n ks paris from london. so quite a few banks have set up regional offices, or expanded their regional offices, to ensure that they can still serve european clients post brexit. and given the fact that actually we have got very good transport links into paris, we have seen 4000 jobs move over, but when you compare the scale and size of london versus paris, london is still very much at the forefront. we employ 250,000 much at the forefront. we employ 250 , 000 employees much at the forefront. we employ 250,000 employees in the financial services sector, and paris do very well, it is not to the same extent. thank you so to the same extent. thank you so much for coming in. it is a shame we can't get you to talk about our last story. next time you come and we will make sure we get to those key stories. thank you for your company here on the briefing. have a really good day, and we will see you soon. hello. from start to finish,

this week almost couldn't be more different. high pressure means a lot of settled weather currently, but it is very much the calm before storm when light winds, dry conditions and sunshine, end of the week and that picture will change dramatically. here we are today with high pressure across the uk, barely a breath of breeze for most of us. the highjust picking off a little bit more moisture on its western flank, though, thanks to the breeze coming in off the atlantic. that gets fed into the northern half of the uk and that moisture will take the form of cloud through the day today basically. sunshine, perhaps hazy and a little overcast at times, even for northern ireland, parts of scotland. a few showers possible for the far north and west of scotland. could be some early fog across eastern wales through into the midlands, but that should lift through the day.

0ur highs somewhere around the 6 to 8 degree mark. 0vernight wednesday and into thursday, the high stays with us, the wind stays light, perhaps the cloud drifting a little further south across the uk. a shade milder, actually, towards the north—west with that feed off the atlantic, the core of our frost likely across wales into the midlands. but again, patchy frost possible just about anywhere as our temperatures, particularly in rural areas, can dip down below freezing. the high still firmly with us on thursday, just drifting a little further eastwards. a chilly start, but a fine day in prospect. perhaps as the high drifts eastwards, the breeze in the west can pick up a little more and break up the cloud for northern ireland and western scotland through the day. a lot of fine weather, though. bright, if not sunny spells, and our temperatures very similar to today, perhaps even a degree or so down in one or two spots, particularly if we get some lingering fog. but we're looking at the 6, 7—degree mark. thursday into friday, again,

it's just a slow shift for our high eastwards, but fronts do start to come into our picture later on in the day on friday. and notice the isobars start to squeeze together too, the change is beginning. the wind will start to strengthen through friday afternoon to the west of the uk, maybe even gales around irish sea coasts and for the western isles, then some showers arrive before close of play. some milder air trying to come in too, though, as the south—westerly wind kicks in, but my goodness, is it set to kick in. basically for the end of the week, the jet stream feeding across the atlantic, which feeds us our weather system, starts to align itself like a motorway driving systems straight across the atlantic towards the uk and this is what that looks like on our the pressure chart. here's the uk. notice how many isobars, that high is long gone, and potentially some deep low centres towards the north—west. it could get stormy.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. 0ur headlines today: dramatic scenes in washington overnight as president trump delivers his state of the union address, claiming a great american come back. the democrat speaker nancy pelosi ripped up a copy of his speech. the foreign office charters a final flight to bring home british nationals stranded in the chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. the second biggest economy in the world is in near shutdown. i'll be looking at what the coronavirus epidemic means for businesses here, and around the world.