Word: reformer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...presuming Brown weathers two by-elections sparked by the expenses scandal. Michael Martin, a Labour MP serving in the party-neutral role of Speaker, or chair, of the Commons, steps down later this month. He was forced out after MPs' protests that he was an obstacle to parliamentary reform. Ian Gibson resigned his marginal seat after a Labour committee examining the expenses revelations ruled he could not stand for the party at the next election. (See pictures of polarizing politicians at LIFE.com...
...Says He's the Great Reformer Stewart witnessed at close hand Labour's shock defeat in the 1992 election it was widely expected to win. That defeat inspired Labour's painful decision to throw out old class-war shibboleths and remake itself for a newly prosperous nation. The party now faces a similar proposition, Stewart believes: reform or die. "If the Labour Party fails to reform itself, then the second stage is that the electorate will reform it by throwing it out," he says, adding: "Barring an event like the Falklands War which helped save [Margaret] Thatcher, Labour...
...proposals, including a part-elected House of Lords, independent regulation of Parliament and a statutory code of conduct for MPs. "The expenses crisis has actually delivered us an amazing opportunity for radical change," says Ben Bradshaw, newly created Culture Secretary in Brown's reconstituted Cabinet. "Gordon is talking about reforming the machine, about real constitutional and political reform...
...others have argued that the Church should consider making celibacy a voluntary discipline for priests. Because it is a rule and not an unchangeable dogma, the celibacy requirement could be altered or rescinded by the Vatican if it chose to do so. Earlier this year, advocates of celibacy reform got a surprising boost from then-outgoing Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, who told a Catholic radio host that the celibacy question was "a perfectly legitimate discussion." He suggested that celibacy might not be a reasonable expectation in every locale. "I am not so sure it wouldn...
...serious priest crisis - the number of men entering the priesthood has dropped by 60% over the past four decades and the current average age of active priests is 60. Many dioceses have been forced to close parishes or import foreign priests to deal with shortages. But advocates of celibacy reform say there is a better solution: ditch the 900-year-old church law prohibiting priests from marrying or being sexually active...