Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction joke in the book is that Adrian does not know whether Mr Carlton-Hayes' partner Leslie is a man or a woman; this is never made clear. Although they are from different backgrounds, he and Adrian share an appreciation of literature, contempt for Michael Flowers, and a similar reservation about expressing their feelings. It is revealed in that Leslie is a man and implied they both left their wives for their relationship. Pauline is Adrian's mother, and plays less of a role in the story than in previous books. Like Adrian, Pauline is inclined to spend using money she hasn't got.
The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole the other books. There are short collections of Adrian's classic diary entries covering important events over a brief period of a few days (such as Christmas, Adrian leaving home, Adrian's first job etc.) during the mid-1980s, but the continuous regular diary entries from the other books are absent. There are also several longer transcripts of radio programmes on Pirate Radio Four, plus collections of letters and correspondence with characters from the earlier books, including Barry Kent, who is in prison. This format means that it covers a longer time span than any other Adrian Mole book at the expense of