WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Syria's transition, public sector pay, and the legal complexity of office Christmas parties

 
today's international story

Syria's new PM begins transition

What happened
Mohammed al-Bashir, who has been appointed Syria's new prime minister until 1 March next year, met members of the country's former government yesterday to begin the process of political transition.

Who said what
"Now it is time for the people to enjoy stability and calm," said Bashir (pictured above) in his first interview hours after being appointed. After nearly 14 years of war, Syria now needs "peace and stability", he told Al Jazeera.

"It is hard to bring down an empire. It is even harder to build a new one," said The Times. A cabinet has now been appointed, although the ministers are still not yet occupying their ministries. Underlining the complexity of the task at hand, that is partly because the rebels "first had to work out how to get into them".

What next?
Even as the interim government attempts to establish itself, Syria could be "on the brink of a fresh round of conflict", said The Daily Telegraph, as Turkish-backed fighters advanced on the Kurdish-majority city of Kobane yesterday, "threatening a new war".

Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that toppled Bashar al-Assad, told Sky News that Western nations need not fear further conflict: "People are exhausted from war. So the country isn't ready for another one and it's not going to get into another one."

Yet this remains a "complex and fluid" moment for Syria, said Scott Neuman on NPR. And it is "all but impossible to predict how things will play out".

 
 
today's politics story

Unions criticise Labour's 2.8% public sector pay rise

What happened
Unions said a proposed 2.8% pay rise for teachers, NHS staff and other public sector workers next year was "an insult" and "barely above the cost of living".

Who said what
Teaching unions said the government's pay rise recommendation, which is just above next year's predicted average inflation of 2.6%, would only deepen the "crisis" in recruitment and retention.

The Royal College of Nursing denounced the proposal as "deeply offensive". The sum would amount to "as little as £2 extra a day", they said, which is "less than the price of a cup of coffee".

After winning power the new Labour government "accepted a series of above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers" to bring an end to long-running strikes, said the BBC. Labour says it inherited a "challenging" financial position from the previous Conservative government that "requires difficult trade-offs".

What next?
Professor Nicola Ranger, the Royal College of Nursing's general secretary and chief executive, warned yesterday that nurses may once again go on strike in pursuit of a better deal. "Let's open direct talks now and avoid further escalation to disputes and ballots," she said.

The government's recommendations will now be considered by independent pay review bodies.

 
 
Today's employment story

Civil servants could sue over Christmas snubs

What happened
Civil servants who aren't invited to Christmas parties may be able to sue for discrimination. The largest civil service union told its members that being snubbed for social events could be grounds for an employment tribunal claim if they suspected it was related to a protected characteristic such as age, gender, religion or ethnicity.

Who said what
The Public and Commercial Services Union also advised that sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour were "just as unacceptable at social events as they are in the workplace". "Remember, alcohol is not a defence for such conduct," the union added.

"Employers organising a work Christmas party should beware two of the most chilling words in the English language: vicarious liability," Jim Moore, of HR consultancy Hamilton Nash, told The Times. "A party that takes place out of office hours is still a work event and leaders and managers can quickly find themselves in hot water for an employee's bad behaviour."

What next?
The new year could "bring a new rush of tribunal cases in this area", according to Moore.

 
 

It's not all bad

An unexpected upside of the catastrophic fire that almost destroyed Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019 was that it allowed archaeologists to uncover a treasure trove of hidden artefacts. Prior to its grand reopening last week more than 100 graves, 1,000 statue fragments and parts of a 13th-century rood screen adorned with gothic features and Passion of Christ reliefs were revealed during the restoration process. The excavation, led by the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, also found early construction materials including iron clamps and oak beams from the 12th century. The fire offered archaeologists a "unique and unprecedented opportunity to dig underneath the church", said Archaeology Magazine, although researchers suspect more significant artefacts still remain buried.

 
 
under the radar

Why is Putin 'de-exonerating' Stalin's victims?

Russian authorities had for many decades exonerated people who were wronged during the Soviet era. But Vladimir Putin has not only abandoned this programme, he's put it into reverse.

The president's move has puzzled many outside Russia, but it's all part of his drive to rewrite his nation's history – his "insatiable itch to place memory of the Russian past under official control", said Tony Barber in the Financial Times.

Starting in the 1950s and then gathering pace in the 1980s and '90s, more than 3.5 million people who were arrested, tortured and sentenced by the "now-extinct totalitarian regime" were acquitted, often posthumously, said Leon Aron in The Atlantic.

In 2013 Putin seemed to be on board with this philosophy. He spoke of the "dark period" of Stalin, condemning his "personality cult and mass violations of the law", with "repression and camps", but now, said The Atlantic, Putin has decided that Stalin's victims "were guilty after all".

The move from Putin "combines propaganda with an insatiable impulse to rewrite Russian history", said the FT. The "all-important context", however, is Putin's "assault on Ukrainian nationhood" and his "crackdown on dissent at home" because Ukrainian and Baltic nationalists, as well as Russian "bandit groups" that resisted Soviet rule, are thought to be among those being targeted.

The programme "risks reopening painful wounds" in Russian society, added Barber, and is "even tempting" people to draw comparisons between Putin and Stalin. Nevertheless, this "historical revisionism" has become an "indispensable feature" of his rule, added Aron, and for as long as he's in power his "war on memory" will only "broaden and deepen".

 
 
on this day

11 December 1913 

Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was recovered, two years after being stolen from the Louvre. Vincenzo Peruggia, although responsible for one of history's greatest art heists, served only seven months in jail. This year the painting was doused in soup by environmental protesters and may be getting a private room.

 
 
Today's newspapers

The i Paper reports on Israel and Turkey both bombing targets in Syria. Israel has also admitted that some of its troops have moved beyond a UN buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border, says The Times. The Daily Mail leads with a report from MPs which found that women are enduring painful gynaecological conditions because of "medical misogyny". Doctors often have a poor understanding of women's health, it said. Meanwhile, the government will get the power to overrule local objections and force new prisons through the planning process, says The Telegraph.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Dogg food

Rap star Snoop Dogg has thrown his hat into the ring to host "MasterChef" if Gregg Wallace – who has stood down while accusations of inappropriate sexual behaviour are investigated – does not return to the BBC show. "My boy Gordon (Ramsay) judges on the US version of the show and I know he would back me to be able to judge on the UK version," Snoop told the Daily Mirror. "He knows I am not playing when it comes to food … I have even given him some tips."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Omar Haj Kadour / AFP / Getty Images; Hesther Ng / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images; Jacobs Stock Photography / Getty Images.