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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 6 december 2022
Eyeing power, U.K. Labour Party vows to abolish House of Lords

By JILL LAWLESS Brown said that would help
Associated Press defuse demands for Scot-
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s tish independence from
opposition Labour Party on the Scottish National Party
Monday pledged to scrap government in Edinburgh.
Parliament’s unelected “That’s going to be the de-
upper house if it wins gov- bate from now on in – not
ernment as part of a raft if independence versus the
policies intended to stake status quo, but change
out Labour’s ground for the within Britain versus change
next election. by leaving Britain,” he said.
The left-of-center party has Starmer said he wanted
been out of power since to implement the propos-
2010, but has a big lead in als within five years of tak-
opinion polls after months ing office, arguing that the
of scandal and economic U.K.’s regions were being
turmoil for the governing “held back by a system
Conservatives. Labour is that hoards power in West-
seeking to cement its place minster.”
as a government-in-waiting “Britain is one of the most
with a raft of policy propos- centralized systems in Eu-
als it says will transfer de- rope and the center has
cision-making power from Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks during a Labour Party press conference to launch a report not delivered,” he said at
the central government on constitutional change and political reform, at Nexus, University of Leeds, in Leeds, England, an event in Leeds, northern
in London to cities and re- Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. England.
gions around the U.K. Associated Press Labour is trying to draw firm
Labour leader Keir Starmer Reform of the Lords is a With life peers sitting along- proposals drawn up for the lines between itself and the
said the current House of thorny issue that has be- side a smattering of judges, party by Gordon Brown, right-of-center Conserva-
Lords is “indefensible” and deviled successive govern- bishops and dozens of re- the U.K.’s last Labour prime tive Party, which is on its
he would replace it with an ments. A previous Labour maining hereditary nobles, minister. Brown, who led the third prime minister since
elected chamber it as soon government under Prime the Lords currently has country between 2007 and winning a big majority in
as possible after taking of- Minister Tony Blair swept about 800 members mak- 2010, recommended giv- 2019 under Boris Johnson.q
fice. The next national elec- hundreds of hereditary ing it the second-largest ing cities and regions more Johnson was pushed out
tion must be held by 2024. nobles from the chamber legislative chamber in the power to raise and spend by his party in July after a
The House of Lords reviews two decades ago, replac- world, after China’s Nation- money. He also proposed string of ethics scandals,
legislation passed by the ing them with “life peers” al People’s Congress. more powers for Scotland and successor Liz Truss quit
elected House of Com- appointed by the govern- Labour proposes replacing and Wales, which already after less than two months
mons, and for most of its ment and political parties. it with a smaller, democrat- have semi-autonomous when her tax-cutting eco-
900-year history was com- But attempts at further re- ic “assembly of nations and parliament based in Edin- nomic plans sparked mar-
posed of hereditary nobles. form have stalled. regions.” The idea is among burgh and Cardiff. ket turmoil.q

In Bolivia, literacy training makes a profound difference

By CARLOS VALDEZ she wants to run a road who have learned to read reduced to 2.7%, making “Many came here by foot
Associated Press race in her indigenous and write this year as part Bolivia one of the region’s from distant communities.
PUCARANI, Bolivia (AP) — community in the Bolivian of “Bolivia Reads,” a gov- countries with good levels They’re motivated to learn,
Anacleta Mamani has no highlands near La Paz. ernment-sponsored literacy of literacy, according to but they sleep during the
teeth, but a happy smile: Mamami is among more program. the United Nations Educa- classes, and some soon for-
She’s learned to read and than 20,000 senior citizens, “I don’t want to die without tional, Scientific and Cul- get their lessons because
write at the age of 71, and mainly women from low- knowing how to read and tural Organization. they’ve got symptoms of
now feels so empowered, income rural communities, write,” said Mamami, who Most of the students had Alzheimer’s,” Montes said.
learned to do both in Ay- to work as children, or Wilma Mamani, 36, had
mara, her mother tongue. couldn’t afford the costs. to quit school as a child
She joined nearly a thou- Some never stepped foot to help her parents in the
sand other Indigenous peo- in a school. fields.
ple who displayed reading, Susana Falcón, the educa- She learned to read and
math and other skills to ju- tion secretary of the town write this year so she could
ries and shared a commu- of Pucarani, gets emotional help her children.
nal meal before receiving as she recalls the tears of a “Many times I felt ashamed,
their literacy certificates on 90-year-old man when he not being able to help
Sunday in the central plaza was able to write his own them when they had ques-
of Pucarani, the main town name. tions with their homework,”
of the region near Lake Titi- These are determined she said.
caca. learners, but the lessons Illiteracy is highest in the
Bolivia, one of the poorest have come awfully late for most rural areas of Bolivia,
nations in South America, some, and they all need particularly in the semi-arid
Aymara Indigenous women smile after receiving their certificate had an illiteracy rate of the government’s help, flatlands between Andean
during an adult literacy graduation ceremony in Pucarani, 23% in 1995. Thanks to “Bo- said Carlos Montes, an peaks, more than 3,800
Bolivia, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022.
Associated Press livia Reads,” that’s been adult education teacher. meters above sea level. q