we'll be taking stock with our business guru theo leggett.e want to know, why are millennials not playing golf? the popularity of the sport is falling all around the world. is it to expensive or does it just take too long? let us know. just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. the government running the world's biggest economy is staring a shutdown in the eyes. that's what will happen if the united states congress doesn't agree a budget deal by the end of friday. late on thursday, the house of representatives passed a short term bill to fund the government until february 16th but getting it through the senate is proving much more difficult. one major sticking point is the fate of 800,000 so—called dreamers — people who came to the us illegally as children and face the prospect of deportation. democrats are using the budget talks as leverage to try and stop that. then there's the children's healthcare programme — which provides insurance for millions of low income kids. it cost $16.9 billion last year and president t

our business correspondent theo leggett has the details.ars car sales in britain have been booming. in 2015 and 2016, the industry set new records, but now, it may be going into reverse gear. 0verall new car registrations were down 5.7% last year, according to the society of motor manufacturers and traders. that's the first decline in six yea rs. that's the first decline in six years. no one is panicking just yet. by years. no one is panicking just yet. by historical standards 2017 was still a pretty good year. more than 2.5 million new cars were registered, the third highest level ina registered, the third highest level in a decade, but over the past few months the decline has accelerated. in december, registrations were down more than 14% compared to last year. and sales of diesel cars across the year we re and sales of diesel cars across the year were down more than 17%. 0verall if you look at the economic performance of the uk, growth is slowing. all the indicators around economic confidence are weakening especially when it comes to peo

theo leggett hitched a ride on renault‘s concept car.ever done this before it really does feel quite strange. we are doing 150 kilometres right now on the motorway and i not touching anything. my colleague has set upjust in touching anything. my colleague has set up just in case things go wrong but the car is driving itself. i am going to do something i have never done before, 103 kilometres on the motorway and i will put a virtual reality set on. now, at the moment, i know i am driving a long motorway but, because i have the virtual reality set on, i am actually flying over the valley. i concede lakes beneath me, birds are around me, a large lunar landscape up in front so it isa large lunar landscape up in front so it is a completely different world and what renault are trying to do here is envisaged a world, you're doing a long journey, you do not need to drive a car so you can turn your mind to other things, relax, sit back and enjoy the show. i do not know if i could do that! now let's brief you some other business stories: drinks gi

theo leggett, bbc news.e magazin, motor trader. of the magazine, motor trader. this demonisation of diesel and the drop in sales, how fair is that two diesel manufacturers? it is not fair. a lot of investment has gone into the development of diesel and the new technology is fantastic, if you look at the euro six compliant car, the level... less than two yea rs car, the level... less than two years old? car, the level... less than two years old ? yes, car, the level... less than two years old? yes, they would have started coming out about the middle of 2015. when we talk about cars before that there is a problem, diesel cars? indeed. the transport for london has it right. the level of cut—off for the additional charge on diesels is appropriate because those are the cars that have the heightened emissions. but if you are looking at cars after that, they are not that bad. they do not deserve the criticism. it has been such a mixed message with the government at one point saying diesel is to be in courage, and s

may lead to better than expected half year resultsjoining us now is our business correspondent theo leggettlike sales were up as you say, like—for—like sales were ‘7. as you say, like—for—like sales were up 6%, and that is sales which are directly comparable with previous quarters. overall sales were only up 4.3%, and that is because whether spoons closed more pubs than it opened, and that took a little gloss from the figures. overall, sales have been better—than—expected, meaning the first half results will be better—than—expected. that is a good thing this week because the company has also had a bit of embarrassment. last night was supposed to be steak night and due to a supplier problem, the stakes are to be recall, so customers were offered things like quinoa and the leumi salad. that has generated headlines like this. other than that, the company is doing well but it does not know if it can sustain that in the rest of the year. have they said anything about the company's they said anything about the compa ny‘s performance going they said anything about the company's performance going f

theo leggett got a sneak preview of one just launched by the french manufacturer renault.lly does feel quite strange. we are doing 115 kilometres an hour on the motorway, and i'm not touching anything. my colleague here has a safety setup just in case anything goes wrong, but the car is driving itself. now i'm going to do something that i've never done before and i don't think many people have. we're doing 103 kilometres per hour on the motorway and i'm going to put a virtual reality headset on. here we go. now, at the moment, i know i'm driving along the motorway. but because i've got the virtual reality headset on, i'm actually flying over a valley. i can see lakes beneath me. there are birds around me. there is a large lunar landscape up in front. so it's a completely different world. and what renault are trying to do here, is envisage a world in which you are doing a long journey, you don't need to drive the car, so you can turn your mind to other things. relax, sit back and enjoy the show. do as you have not seen him before. —— theo. a lot of you have been in touched

theo leggett is in our business newsroom with more.—— it feels like we talk about greggs quite a lot.|j prefer artisan bakers, but greggs is very popular and seems to be continuing with its growth plans. sales up 7.4%, in like—for—like terms just over 3%, sales up 7.4%, in like—for—like termsjust over 3%, 3.7% sales up 7.4%, in like—for—like terms just over 3%, 3.7% last year. investors are still looking at this and they do not seem quite able to digest the news. shares being up and down a little like a yo—yo, currently just over 1%. down a little like a yo—yo, currentlyjust over 1%. it seems like fed is managing to maintain momentum, it is still opening stores and racking up sales despite the fa ct and racking up sales despite the fact that over the past year it says the cost of its ingredients have gone up. —— greggs is managing to maintain. employment costs have gone up. there have been pressures on the business. nevertheless, and despite the fact it has had to put up the prices of things like sausage rolls, it seems to continue gro

theo leggett is following the story for us. this is an interesting one. it is very serious news. but there is a big economic story when it comes to wear is cheaper to produce these cars? absolutely, this is about the big picture. ellesmere port currently builds the vauxhall astra. sales of the car is declining, it is not as popular as sport utility vehicles, and it is getting long in the tooth. that said, they have said that production will remain at elms —— elms near the top 2021. what happens after that? there is kind of a beauty contest going on within the entire psa group, about where the next generation of cars get built. what he has said frequently in the past is that he looks at efficiency and profitability. if plants can prove they are efficient and profitable, they are efficient and profitable, they stand a good chance of getting work. if they can't be, then they will not get the work. now, in the past, tells me a —— it has been inefficient compared to other plants in europe. it has an old production line, sales are declining. what people there t

our business correspondent theo leggett has the details.ain have been booming. in 2015 and 2016, the industry set new records. but now, it may be going into reverse gear. 0verall, new car registrations were down 5.7% last year, according to the society of motor manufacturers and traders. that's the first decline in six years. no one is panicking just yet. by historical standards, 2017 was still a pretty good year. more than 2.5 million new cars were registered — the third highest level in a decade. but over the past few months the decline has accelerated. in december, registrations were down more than 14% compared to last year. and sales of diesel cars across the year were down more than 17%. 0verall, if you look at the economic performance of the uk, growth is slowing. all the indicators around economic confidence are weakening, especially when it comes to people's enthusiasm about making a big—ticket purchase, like a car. declining demand for diesel cars is a big problem for the industry. campaigners blame them for high levels of urban po

next report from theo leggett.. it is hugely competitive, as you know. the companies that brought us volvo and google are involved, so was renault. if you have never done this before, it really feels quite strange. we doing 115 kph on the motorway, i am not touching anything. my colleague has a safety set of in case things go wrong, but the car is striving itself. now i will do something i have never done before, and i don't think many people have. we are doing 103 kph on the motorway, and i will put a virtual reality headset on. here we go. at the moment i know i'm driving along a motorway, but because i have the virtual reality headset on, i am flying over a valley. i can see la kes flying over a valley. i can see lakes beneath me, birds around me, a large lunar landscape in front. it isa large lunar landscape in front. it is a completely different world. what renault are trying to do is envisage a world in which you are doing a long journey, you don't need to drive the car, so you can turn your mind to other thi

but truly self—driving vehicles remain a long way off. 0ur crash—test dummy, or correspondent theo leggett cars will not be on the market for a few years, but there are already automated systems which can improve safety which are fitted to cars you can buy today. so to find out more, we have borrowed a test track, we have got a state—of—the—art production vehicle, and this one is a crash—test dummy. what we are going to do is turn right into the path of a car coming towards us. 0h! that is quite violent. but we didn't hit the car coming in the opposite direction. we have another system to try as well, and this time i'm going to do the driving. we are going to try out an automatic braking system, and that involves trying to drive into the back of the car in front, which i'm not entirely happy about, but let's give it a go. i can see the car in front, i want to put the brakes on, but i'm not going to. so the car gave me an audible warning and also showed me a flashing light, and then the brakes came on, the seat belts tensioned and it brought us to a controlled halt. just before we take a br

theo leggett has been having a sneak peak. anything. my colleague has a safety setup in case things go wrong. but the car is driving itself. now i'm going to do something i have never done before i think many people have. we are doing 103 kilometres per hour on the motorway and i'm going to put a virtual reality headset on. here we go. at the moment i know i'm driving along a motorway. but because i've got the virtual reality headset on, i'm actually flying over a valley. i can see lakes beneath me. there are birds around me. there is a large lunar landscape in front. it is a com pletely lunar landscape in front. it is a completely different world. what we are going to try to do is envisage a world in which you are doing a long journey, you don't need to drive the car, so you turn your mind to other things. relax, sit back and enjoy the show. just no. there are no words. get a train springs to mind. let's look at the markets. we had stories about debenhams this morning. people stockpiling irn—bru open by 1%. nasdaq i will talk

our business correspondent, theo leggett reports.. it provides services along the south coast and into london. since 2016, the company has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the rmt union over its plans to use trains on which the driver rather than the conductor is in charge of opening and closing in the daughters. over the past two years, there have been regular strikes on southern railways' trains. this week, great northern services have also been affected. in fact, according to the national audit office, since it was created, the franchise as a whole has experienced worse disruption than any other part of the network. 146,000 trains have been cancelled or delayed for more than half an hour, since july 2015. that's 7.7% of services. across the uk as a whole, the figure is 2.8%. the report claims that although most of the delays were down to industrial action, the department for transport should shoulder some of the blame. when it awarded the franchise, it didn't check they had enough drivers. didn't pay enough attention to the

our business correspondent, theo leggett reports.outhern and great northern are the large of largest of britain's rail services. it provides services along the south coast and into london. since 2016 the company has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the rmt union, over its plans to use trains on which the driver, rather than the conductor, is in charge of opening and dlosing the doors. over the past two years, there have been regular strikes on southern rail ways trains. this week, great northern services have also been affected. in fact, according to the national audit office, since it was created, the franchise as experienced worst disruption than any other part of the network. 146,000 trains have been cancelled, or delayed for more than half an hour sincejuly 2015. that's 7.7% of services. across the uk as that's 7.7% of services. across the ukasa that's 7.7% of services. across the uk as a whole, the figure is 2.8%. the report claims that although most of the delays were down to industrial action, the department for transpo