Out of the Blue: A heartwarming picture book about celebrating difference

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Bad biography about Britain's worst Prime Minister written by a client journalist that still makes her out to be an utterly incompetent narcissist. The biography follows Truss from her middle-class upbringing in Leeds – her father was a maths lecturer, but a passion for mental arithmetic seems to have been the extent of left-leaning Professor Truss’s influence on his daughter – and on to Oxford, where she enjoyed a career as a minor campus provocateur. An active Lib Dem as a student, she ditched the liberals for the Tories before graduating, went to work at Shell and shortly thereafter met and, in 1999, married, Hugh O’Leary, an accountant. Truss spent the ’00s in furious pursuit of a parliamentary seat. She narrowly lost Calder Valley in 2005 (finding time on the campaign trail to have a widely publicised affair with Mark Field, the MP sent to mentor her) before winning South West Norfolk in 2010 (her selection much dogged by the shadow of the affair). LabourList has more readers than ever before - but we need your support. Our dedicated coverage of Labour's policies and personalities, internal debates, selections and elections relies on donations from our readers. In Westminster, Truss began a steady climb up the ministerial ranks, first as a parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department for Education, and then into cabinet as DEFRA Secretary, then Justice Secretary, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, before heading to the Department for International Trade and ultimately becoming Foreign Secretary in 2021. The picture Cole and Heale paint of Truss is one of a stubborn and consistent ideologue, a woman interested in her own advancement, in the unfettered free market and very much not interested in the input of others.

Larry the llama has a secret: at night, he becomes a dazzling llama with a penchant for sparkle. Yet Larry worries that the other llamas won’t understand. Will Larry find a place where he fits in? And, perhaps, will he end up feeling comfortable enough to be himself with the other llamas too? In a very blue house on a very blue street, sits a little boy who feels as blue as the world around him. The authors note at the start of the book that it was rushed out, and you can tell - I counted a number of grammatical errors throughout the read. Her narcissism, and vapid obsession with social media. Neglecting diplomats and meetings to craft the perfect caption, and driving all over towns looking for the perfect photo op - while leaving guests waiting. Social media is a valid tool for politicians to promote their agenda; but much like the drinking, her social media use appears more like that of a dependant teenager. In a world where only one colour is allowed, will he be brave enough to tell his dad? And will they be able to defy the rules and create a world where EVERY colour is welcome?Obliviousness isn’t always a blessing in politics however, as becomes clear in her first job as early years minister under David Cameron. Truss had hatched a plan to cut childcare costs by slashing the number of adults required to supervise children, which unsurprisingly proved controversial. Instead of patiently trying to build public and political support for it, she simply put her head down and charged – much as she would a decade later with her mini-budget, and about as successfully. All young politicians make mistakes. What’s unusual about Truss is that the lesson she seemingly took from hers was to believe in herself even more, and listen to others even less. Claims of Truss’s affair with an aide and that there’s a sex tape in circulation are left strangely hanging But a casual, barbed comment by her bitchy magazine editor friend Lili makes Faith wonder whether her world is as wonderful as it seems on the surface. Is Peter's odd behaviour of late purely the result of stress at work? Is Faith really too smug and trusting? They quote some of the people who know her, including her followers and adversaries, but on the whole, the book is just a short summary of her career. With her manic eagerness, cheap publicity stunts, fixed stare looking somewhere over the horizon, and GCSE level political fixed ideas, she could be a parody of Reese Witherspoon’s character from the movie Election. Unfortunately, she is a real politician, who, in her short premiership, succeeded in damaging the economy and the status of the country.

Very low on insight, and it's clear how hastily this was written, and then rewritten. Traces of the redemption narrative the authors hoped to tell - of Truss vindicated - are visible throughout. The most interesting elements are about... It reminded me of just how much I struggle with political lobby journalism - even if the subject matter is sensational by their standards: I find it incredibly boring. Endless job titles and departments and fields and minor office personalities that mean little to me (I still have no idea what the Cabinet Office does mind, though looking it up has probably been in my New Year's resolutions lists for thirty years). But it’s perhaps significant too that she had got away with so much in the past, leading to an overconfidence about her ability to wing it – as she did even in the early days of her leadership campaign. If there’s one thing missing from this juicy tale of high political farce, it’s arguably a more unsparing account of what allowed a politician so flawed to rise so high at the expense of us all: a previous leader promoting her to spite his rivals, a dysfunctional Conservative party, but also an indulgent rightwing press that turned on her only when it was too late. Less a drama from “out of the blue”, perhaps, than a car crash waiting to happen. A tin-eared ideologue, without empathy and fuelled by copious espressos and bottles of Sauvignon Blanc as she talks over anyone who challenges her, it’s amazing to think so many were hoodwinked into believing in Liz Truss as prime ministerial material. Instead we got a PM who trashed the economy and the Conservative Party’s reputation for a generation. Cole has long been rumoured to have been the recipient of Truss’s leaks when she was a cabinet member – Dominic Cummings was explicit in this accusation. So while it isn’t an authorised biography, you sense that Truss herself has been the source of a fair amount of the information in the book.

I can't say, having read this book, that I'm more in-the-know about any of this than I was before. What I would want to learn is, if some of her leadership flaws were evident earlier in her career, why didn't they stop her from rising to the top? The book says she was sometimes accused of leaking, was occasionally rude to staff, and could have achieved more in certain ministerial roles - but that is mainly it, and the writers say she always worked her way through it and didn't let it deter her. We have to ask, is politics really so full of second-raters that someone who ultimately wasn't fit for the job was over-promoted, by her peers, to Prime Minister? Having worked in Westminster, I know there are some capable and good people there, despite it being an incredibly volatile and at times toxic environment. And if anyone did have serious doubts, who were they, and what would they say? Their voices are not really in this book - which suggests to me that the writers were somewhat inclined towards Truss, trying to deliver an, on-balance, favourable book, without the insight of her foes. Because this isn't an over-exaggeration: Liz Truss was the worst Prime Minister in our history, and her mini-budget did real damage to the finances of many hardworking British people, especially regarding mortgages. Many in her own party would agree, having thrown her out so venomously just a few months ago. What a wasted opportunity. Full of secondary sources, rather than primary ones, this is not much more than a cut and paste job. Out Of The Blue is just as much an internal story about healing and finding peace within, as it is a story about angels that fall from the sky. The novel strikes a superb balance between external plot and internal progress that is sure to appeal to fans of YA fiction and fantasy... continued It's so important that little ones grow up and see their type of family set-up reflected in the books you share with them. Here's a list of our favourite children's books that show – and celebrate – diverse families.Perfect for babies all the way up to aged five. Another mayonnaise-hating zealot (Jr) bought me this surprisingly engaging read for Christmas. If only the shitshow it describes were a comedy instead of real life.

Mae bachgen ifanc yn byw mewn man lle mae unrhyw beth nad yw'n las yn cael ei wahardd, trwy orchymyn y llywodraeth. Ond mae gan y bachgen gyfrinach: mae wrth ei fodd â'r lliw melyn. Mae'n teimlo bod hoffi melyn yn gorfod bod yn beth drwg. There's something deeply pathetic and unbecoming about her 'rider'; demands (while FS) for a bottle of white wine in the fridge at every overnight stay, and her aides hastily trying to rearrange her diplomatic engagements the next day to cover up her hangovers.The authors rushed the publication soon after her sudden fall from grace, to attract people like me, who looked to find an answer to a baffling question – how her premiership became possible?

It’s hard to imagine that there is much appetite for knowing more about Truss. Even her most ardent supporters could probably do with knowing a little less. But here it is, nonetheless, a 300-leaved lettuce that was past its sell-by date before it reached the shelves. Truss maintains she is interested in outcome, not process. Seldom has a prime minister been more wrong about herself Truss' drinking (and the drinking culture around her), which for me is more damning and unprofessional than anything witnessed under Boris during partygate. Faith and Peter’s marriage also goes to the brink – perhaps beyond reparation. The reader will wonder why Faith believes Lily’s silken lies about Peter – and then, hopefully, will see that Faith is actually following an agenda of her own. She feels like a little break from her dully happy marriage – but she finds the grass no greener on the other side. Good account of Liz Truss' early career in particular, and of time in cabinet. Account of her period as PM seemed very brief and felt like more depth needed. One assumes this may appear in later analyses.What the government – and indeed the nation – needed after Boris Johnson’s disruptive stint in office was a period of undramatic competence. What the Tory membership voted for instead was someone who was drunk on the thrill of disruption. One of the many strange elements of the Truss story is that she has always maintained that she is interested in outcome, not process. Un diwrnod, mae Dad yn dod o hyd i'w guddfan yn llawn o'i bethau melyn hyfryd. Drwy lwc, mae Dad yn gefnogol, a gyda'i gilydd maen nhw'n penderfynu ei bod hi'n iawn hoffi melyn. This gentle, positive story is a gorgeous celebration of being true to yourself. The beautiful illustrations show brilliantly, despite their beauty, how dull it is when everything and everyone is forced to be the same. The loving relationship between the single dad and his son is particularly nicely done in a matter-of-fact way, and the rhythm of the rhyming text pulls the reader through the story at the perfect pace.