Masquerading as health and fitness publications, these journals contained photographs of finely muscled, nearly naked men that were beautifully lit and classically posed. Now a gorgeous new book is celebrating these ‘museum-worthy’ images

In the late 1950s, when photography critic Vince Aletti was in his mid-teens, he stumbled upon a clutch of magazines at a local newsstand that seemed to speak directly to him. From their covers to the pages inside, the pocket-sized magazines were packed with strikingly composed images of nearly naked, finely muscled men, many of whom appeared to have a secret rapport with each other. “I remember getting really turned on by that,” Aletti recalls, sitting in his apartment in New York’s East Village. “I also remember being really worried that my mother might find those magazines in my room.”

Physique magazines, as such publications were generically known, operated on a coded system, designed to function as smoke signals for gay men during an era of heightened repression and censorship that lasted from the 1930s until the early 70s. The magazines, which were pumped out in cities across the US, made sure to pass as health and fitness publications, but the style and content of their photos were clearly created for the tastes and desires of gay men. In the decades since, physique images have often been written off as campy relics of a sad past, but Aletti wants audiences to consider them anew.

Former president says: ‘Cancer touches us all … Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places’

Joe Biden made his first public remarks on Monday morning about his cancer diagnosis, an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

“Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support,” Biden wrote on social media, his first statement since his office reported the diagnosis on Sunday.

Drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will buy the genetic testing firm through a bankruptcy auction

The drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will buy the genetic testing firm 23andMe Holding for $256m through a bankruptcy auction, the companies said on Monday.

Regeneron said it will comply with 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable laws with respect to the use of customer data and that it is ready to detail its intended use of the data to a court-appointed overseer. The companies expect to close the deal in the third quarter.

Deal would allow US to carry out military activities in and from Denmark, giving them powers over Danish civilians

When Copenhagen signed a new defence agreement giving the US “unhindered access” to Danish airbases in December 2023, the idea of granting sweeping powers to US forces on Danish soil was quite a different proposition to what it is today.

The US, then under the Biden administration, was an unwavering Nato ally that Denmark had followed into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Nordic neighbours Sweden, Finland and Norway had similar agreements with the US.

Aubrey Williams produced huge, colourful abstract paintings and was influenced by music and climate issues

An artist whose work was part of the first wave of abstract art to hit the UK and presaged the climate breakdown protests as well as debates over the legacies of British colonialism is undergoing an “overdue” reappraisal, according to experts and critics.

Aubrey Williams, the Guyanese artist who moved to Britain in the 1950s, was a respected figure in his lifetime and the subject of several exhibitions in the UK. But after his death from cancer in 1990, the artist’s influence and the legacy of his abstract painting has slowly faded from view in Britain.

As South Western becomes the latest operator to be renationalised, there are questions about whether the changes will lead to lower fares

At the rarely experienced hour of 6.14am on Sunday, the first train to carry the Great British Railways branding will make its way out of London Waterloo to Shepperton: traversing the Surrey commuter belt emblazoned with a red, white and blue GBR logo, and proudly renationalised to boot.

The next train with the planned state body’s branding may be some years behind it. But the Labour government hopes to grab the moment to demonstrate to an increasingly impatient electorate that the wheels of change – in rail at least – are finally turning.

Clichy-Batignolles, in the city’s north-west, is emblematic of the ‘15-minute’ city approach to urban planning

• Manager focused on Champions League qualification
• ‘I think we’re going to qualify … that is the main target’

Pep Guardiola has offered no guarantee that Kevin De Bruyne will start his final home game for Manchester City. De Bruyne, who is leaving when his contract expires this summer, is set to play at the Etihad Stadium for one last time in a City shirt against Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Yet with City still to secure Champions League qualification, Guardiola will not be guided by sentiment in his selection. The manager said: “What Kevin wants is that we win the game to qualify for the Champions League next season. That is what Kevin wants. It cannot be otherwise. I’m going to decide the best so that we can have the best chance to win the game against Bournemouth.”

This foodie tour is a love fest between everyone he meets – and everything he eats. It would be perfect television … if only the script weren’t so laughably repetitious

In my next life I am definitely coming back as Stanley Tucci. Or Francesco da Mosto (that Venetian count with the exuberant hair who was all over the schedules a few years ago, do you remember?), or Steve Coogan or Rob Brydon or any celebrity, really, who is sent off to foreign parts on jollies disguised as work.

I am never going to be a world traveller. But if I were, I would, like most of the above, stop at Italy. Why, honestly, would you go further? Why would you not stay in the place that breaks your heart with its beauty everywhere you look? That is suffused with the confidence and style that screams “We owned the Renaissance! We proved ourselves once and for all. No need to sweat the small stuff now! Sit down, chill, and eat penne al’arrabiata until it’s time to prostrate yourself in awe before some ancient frescoes. And btw, the spirit of Michelangelo wants you to eat your body weight in gelato before bed. That’s why he released David from his marble. So you know you can never compete.”

Tariffs impact demands ‘considerable downgrade’, to 0.9% this year and 1.4% in 2026, says European Commission

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The European Commission has cut its growth forecasts for the eurozone this year and next as a result of uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s tariff wars.

The commission said the impact of tariffs demanded a “considerable downgrade” to the expected growth this year of the 20-member eurozone to 0.9% from the previous forecast, made in November, of 1.3%.

‘Machines were revolutionising recording. We were told to lay down a 20-second backing track, a guide vocal – then go and play table tennis’

Lol Creme and I left 10cc at the height of the success because we felt things were starting to become repetitive. We came from an art school background and we were thinking visually. Even at that stage, there were two film-makers waiting to come out.

América Sánchez and Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos died in the wreck that injured 22 other crew members

Mexico is grieving two cadets in the country’s navy that were killed on Saturday when the tall training ship Cuauhtémoc crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.

América Sánchez, 20, and Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos, 23, died in the wreck that injured 22 other crew members, including three critically.

Exotic, who is serving 21 years for murder-for-hire plot, urges president: ‘Just let me go to Mexico’

Joe Exotic – star of the 2020 Netflix true crime documentary Tiger King – is publicly pleading for Donald Trump to pardon him from federal prison after his husband was deported to Mexico.

“It’s really past time to have one of your people watch Tiger King Season 2, where they all admitted to perjury and a plot to kill me on world television and let me out,” Exotic, whose name is Joseph Allen Maldonado, wrote late on Sunday on social media to the president whom he has politically supported. “I know that you are not fond of my lifestyle, but I supported you just allow me go to Mexico with my husband.”

Dinosaurs are roaring back to life! With the help of palaeontologists around the globe … and a huge pile of pizza boxes. We dig deep into the return of the prehistoric epic

I’ve been under work pressure many times before, but nothing has prepared me for this. In Alberta, Canada on a palaeontology dig being filmed for the return of the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs, I have been allowed to unearth a dinosaur bone.

It has not seen the light of day for about 73m years, and now, armed with just a hammer, awl and brush, I am chipping away at the rock around it to bring it to human eyes for the first time. One tap too hard in the wrong place and the fossilised bone could break.

French media report that award-winning artist suffered heart attack and died in hospital early on Saturday morning

Werenoi, one of the most successful rappers in France, has died aged 31.

His record label Believe confirmed the news, writing on Instagram: “It is with immense sadness that we learned of Werenoi’s passing … may he rest in peace.”

Ofgem price cap on gas and electricity likely to drop by £129 to £1,720 a year, says consultancy Cornwall Insight

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Household energy bills could drop this summer but experts have warned that “the crisis is not over” for households and manufacturers struggling to afford gas and electricity costs.

The industry regulator’s quarterly price cap is expected to fall in July by an average of £129, or 7%, according to forecasts from Cornwall Insight, a leading energy consultancy. It has predicted that the cap will fall to £1,720 a year for a typical dual-fuel household this summer, from £1,849 under the current limits.

Niko Kovac oversaw a remarkable comeback but there is plenty of work to be done for BVB to challenge Bayern again

The last time Borussia Dortmund had enjoyed an end-of-season run-in as successful as this was that season. Nearly two years on Niko Kovac and company didn’t quite lay the ghost of 2023 but began to definitively draw a line under the fallout from it. On this occasion BVB faced what should have been a straightforward final day task at home and made it so. Where they had been cowed by nerves against Mainz in the last game of 2022-23 and let the Bundesliga slip through their collective fingers, this time they were ready to receive an unexpected opportunity.

This time there was the right to a celebration, and there was the feeling that it had been earned. Pointing out that Saturday’s final-day win over already-relegated Holstein Kiel perhaps salvaged the bare minimum – a top-four place – from this season would be to miss the point and to disregard the context. BVB had been languishing in 11th with just eight games to go, 10 points adrift of the Champions League places and with the prospect of any European football at all next season looking like a tough ask. If they had been able to take advantage of Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt (who began the day in fourth and third places respectively) playing each other on the final day, they had manufactured any luck of which they were the beneficiaries by winning seven and drawing one – away at Bayern – of the last eight, beating direct concurrents like Freiburg, Mainz and Borussia Mönchengladbach along the way, as well as winning at Leverkusen last week.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

The country’s charm offensive and global mediator role – as well as a $400m plane – reveal a complicated relationship

On his tour of the Middle East last week, Donald Trump was treated like royalty by the leaders of the wealthiest countries in the Arab world. The US president was feted in gilded ballrooms, his motorcade was flanked by dozens of men riding white Arabian horses and he was awarded an elaborate gold medal necklace. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates went out of their way to show Trump that they respect him more than his predecessor, Joe Biden.

While Trump frequently praised Saudi and UAE leaders during his first term, he was highly critical of Qatar, a small emirate that is rich in natural gas but usually overshadowed by its two larger and more powerful neighbors. In June 2017, Trump said Qatar “has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level” and he supported a blockade against the country, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Qatar’s neighbors accused it of financing terrorism by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and being too cozy with Iran. The blockade, which disrupted the lives of thousands of people across the Persian Gulf, stretched until early 2021.

These summery snacks are based on the popular pintxo, only with the chilli blended into an artichoke tapenade that’s spread on toast and topped with the olive and anchovy

Gildas are such a lovely pre-dinner snack: really good olives and anchovies on a stick, with any number of variations, such as artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, bits of cheese … The one I had most recently, at Brett in Glasgow, was beyond wonderful, and featured chicken fat-topped croutons and homemade green chilli sauce with plump Perelló olives and anchovies. Inspired by this, I made a lemon-spiked green chilli and artichoke tapenade for hot focaccia, topped with the same excellent olives and the best anchovies.

Cinema’s sprightliest senior citizen is not one to give in to obstacles easily and looks set to outpace time’s wingèd chariot for a good while yet

Much of the discourse around Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning revolves around that penultimate word. This, we’re told, is it. This is the last time that Tom Cruise will leap out of various modes of high-speed transport in pursuit of some nebulously defined MacGuffin. The last time he’ll grit his teeth and run across a major global landmark. The last time he’ll give Simon Pegg work. This is it.

Except, not to spoil anything, but it probably isn’t. After years of avoiding the press and letting his work do the talking, Tom Cruise is actively promoting Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. He’s doing junkets. He’s giving red-carpet interviews. He’s giving talks at the BFI. For those of us who enjoy Tom Cruise, this is a rare gift. But over the course of these appearances, a message has started to form. That message is: Tom Cruise is never, ever going to stop.

Prime minister issues warning after closer than anticipated first round forces presidential runoff vote on 1 June

The next two weeks will “decide the future of Poland”, its prime minister, Donald Tusk, has warned, as the country prepares for a presidential runoff vote on 1 June after a nail-bitingly close first round.

Official results released on Monday showed the pro-European centrist Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and candidate from Tusk’s Civic Coalition, received 31.36% of the votes. Narrowly trailing him was Karol Nawrocki, backed by the populist rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS), with 29.54% of the vote.

Presenter says stepping back feels like ‘the responsible course of action’ after reposting video with antisemitic tropes

Gary Lineker will leave the BBC this weekend, it was announced on Monday, days after he apologised for amplifying online material with antisemitic connotations.

The presenter, the highest-paid on-air star at the BBC, had been scheduled to present the 2026 World Cup and next season’s FA Cup for the corporation.

Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhaty say they could not use their swimming pool and had to cancel garden party

Many a child has experienced the anxiety of knocking on a frustrated neighbour’s door to ask for their ball back.

But one couple in Hampshire have become so exasperated by the seemingly endless stream of footballs landing in the garden of their £2m home from a nearby school they have successfully sued the county council.

• Christian Horner: ‘At all times, Max had the pace’
• McLaren admit surprise at speed of Red Bull car

Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen’s victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix demonstrated Red Bull might have reached a turning point in their attempt to catch McLaren in the Formula One world championship, potentially igniting the season.

Verstappen won in Imola having pulled off a striking pass to overtake the pole-sitter and title leader Oscar Piastri for the lead through the Tamburello chicane on the opening lap. After which the world champion went on to control Sunday’s race from the front with pace that was more than a match for the McLarens who had previously dominated the season. It marked the first time this year that Red Bull had definitively held the upper hand in race pace , having not overworked their tyres in doing so and Horner felt it indicated they were in the title fight.

The 37-year-old former Chelsea winger had the final say amid controversy, bitterness and regret in Milan and Parma

Antonio Conte looked like a man who just wanted to be tucked up in bed, sinking into his seat in the Stadio Tardini’s press conference room instead and dropping his head between his hands. “Very tired,” he replied when a journalist asked how he was feeling. He kept repeating those words while the next question was being asked, a quiet little chant: “Very tired. Very tired. Very tired.”

Even a neutral spectator might have felt exhausted from keeping up with all the twists and turns on a night when Conte’s Napoli twice lost control of the Serie A title race and twice got it back – all without scoring or conceding any goals. A night of VAR controversies, penalties awarded then unawarded and deep, bitter regret.

Ahead of the author’s much anticipated memoir, we count down the best of her books – from climate dystopias to her world-conquering handmaids

After more than 30 years, Atwood caved to pleas to write a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Not since Harry Potter had a publication caused such a sensation: computers were hacked in search of the manuscript and advance copies were kept under lock and key. With classic Atwood timing, the novel coincided with the phenomenal success of the TV adaptation of the original – not to mention the arrival of Trump at the White House. The Testaments won Atwood her second Booker prize, shared (controversially) with Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other.

• Winter Olympics shifts France v Ireland to Thursday
• Only one fallow week set to raise player welfare concerns

Next year’s Six Nations will kick off on a Thursday night for the first time in the competition’s history, with the defending champions, France, hosting Ireland, and will take place across just six weeks after organisers removed one of fallow weeks for the championship.

It is understood the unprecedented move to begin the championship on Thursday 5 February next year has been made after input from broadcasters, with the 2026 Winter Olympics ceremony taking place in Milan the following day. It has also been made with the agreement of all six unions.

An enterprising little starter in a tin bursting with familiar pizza flavours, plus two summery fishy tarts

Crab, wonderful crab, an ingredient that has always been found on my restaurant menus and at home in my kitchen. This simple, rather rustic tart is delicious and sings of warmer days. Tarragon is underrated, but this soft herb is a staple in my garden and eats especially well with crab. Then, all the love for these little sardine tins of happiness, taking the classic flavours of a margherita pizza, tucking them up with the fish and using the tin to the max.

Frederick Doe, 36, convicted of conspiring to transfer criminal property after 18-carat toilet was stolen in 2019

A “foolish” middle-man involved in the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet stolen from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace has been handed a suspended sentence at Oxford crown court.

Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, from Windsor, was convicted by a jury of conspiring to transfer criminal property. He was accused of offering to find a buyer for the gold.

With Ineos busy at Manchester United, Nice finished fourth in Ligue 1 and set up their first European Cup run in 65 years

By Get French Football News

“He hasn’t seen a Nice match this season,” retorted their manager, Franck Haise, to denigrating comments from the club’s own owner Jim Ratcliffe. Had the Manchester United shareholder watched Nice this season, he would have seen a team that have instilled principles and structures that have thus far failed to take hold at Old Trafford – and a side not reliant on a one-game shootout to secure their place in next season’s Champions League.

When Manchester United and Nice both qualified for the Europa League this season, Uefa stipulated that no one involved in one club’s management, administration or sporting performance could have a decisive influence in the other club. Ineos concentrated on Manchester United and left Nice to their own devices. It has worked out well for the French club.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary says full-year results are ‘robust’ and airline will pay about €400m in dividends

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Ryanair has said air fares will head back up this summer after a year of lower fares saw the budget airline’s profits fall 16%.

Europe’s biggest airline carried just over 200 million passengers in 2024-25 with ticket prices down 7% to fill its planes, after a dispute halted bookings from some online agents, reducing full-year profits to €1.6bn (£1.4bn).

Unclear what US president can achieve after direct talks between Russia and Ukraine ended without conclusion

JD Vance extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.

Vance gave the first American pope a letter from Donald Trump and the first lady inviting him. The Chicago-born pope took the letter and put it on his desk and was heard saying “at some point”, in the video footage of the meeting provided by Vatican Media.

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, also gave the Augustinian pope a copy of two of St Augustine’s most seminal works, The City of God and On Christian Doctrine, the vice-president’s office said. Another gift: A Chicago Bears T-shirt with Leo’s name on it.

“As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance told Leo as they exchanged gifts.

Leo gave Vance a bronze sculpture with the words in Italian “Peace is a fragile flower”, and a coffee-table sized picture book of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. Leo noted that Francis had chosen not to live in them and added: “And I may live in, but it’s not totally decided.”

Vance led the US delegation to Sunday’s formal mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Joining him at the meeting on Monday was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said. The two then also met with the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.

After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni, who said she hoped the trilateral meeting could be a “new beginning”.

In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump’s expected call with Vladimir Putin today, according to a statement from Meloni’s office.

Donald Trump’s bid to gut the top US consumer watchdog has left the agency unable to protect consumers amid mounting fears of recession, according to workers.

And we are on the verge of another major financial crisis, so it’s terrifying. The one thing we were created to do we can’t do – at a time when we’re most needed.

We have helped millions of people. We have returned billions of dollars. It isn’t the way it has to be that there is nowhere to turn to when a bank or credit card rips you off. That is something everyone is exposed to. That’s what’s heartbreaking to me about the possibility of my job disappearing.

From a disobedient dishwasher to a letter from the taxman, it turns out everything is more palatable with a sprinkling of childlike wonder

Reading about ways to foster joy last week (I know, most of us would settle for waking without lingering dread, but why not dream big occasionally?), I was captivated by the memoirist and cancer survivor Suleika Jaouad’s suggestion: live each day like it’s your first. When Jaouad’s leukaemia returned last year, well-wishers urged her to live each day like it was her last, but the pressure to carpe each second of every damn diem left her feeling panicked and exhausted. Instead, she cultivated a sense of freshly hatched curiosity and playfulness, which she says helped.

I loved this, but doubted the feasibility – can you really convince your tired, cynical self to feel joyful astonishment? I tried living yesterday as if it were my first; not like an actual newborn (red-faced, frequently crying, utterly incompetent – I’m all that already), but with childlike wonder. I had some success being captivated by my breakfast banana – great design and colour – and even more with the magical elixir that makes me not hate everyone (coffee).

Veteran activist reflects on Malcolm’s legacy and decades of progress now rolled back by Trump and ‘white supremacy on steroids’

When African Americans protested against police brutality in New York, they were portrayed as rioters, Malcolm X told an audience at the London School of Economics. When shop windows were smashed in the Black community, he said, the press gave the impression that “hoodlums, vagrants, criminals” wanted to break in and steal merchandise.

“But this is wrong,” Malcolm contended. “In America the Black community in which we live is not owned by us. The landlord is white. The merchant is white. In fact, the entire economy of the Black community in the states is controlled by someone who doesn’t even live there … And these are the people who suck the economic blood of our community.”

The right wants American women to bear more children and withdraw from full participation in society

Last month, the White House issued a proposed budget to Congress that completely eliminated funding for Head Start, the six-decade-old early childhood education program for low-income families that serves as a source of childcare for large swaths of the American working class.

The funding was restored in the proposed budget after an outcry, but large numbers of employees who oversee the program at the office of Head Start were laid off in a budget-slashing measure under Robert F Kennedy Jr, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. On Thursday, Kennedy said funding for the program would not be axed, but more cuts to childcare funding are likely coming: some Republicans have pushed to repeal a five-decade-old tax credit for daycare. The White House is entertaining proposals on how to incentivize and structurally coerce American women into bearing more children, but it seems to be determined to make doing so as costly to those women’s careers as possible.

Michael Fanone slams Mike Johnson and Republicans for long delaying congressionally approved officer tribute

Donald Trump and his Republican allies are “petty bitches” for refusing to display a congressionally approved plaque honoring police officers who protected the US Capitol when the president’s supporters attacked the complex on 6 January 2021, says one of the cops in question, Michael Fanone.

Speaking recently on the show hosted by political broadcast journalist Jim Acosta, the famously candid and oft profane Fanone said he also had a suggestion about where Republican US House speaker Mike Johnson could position the commemoration. “I think that it would be … perfect … if the plaque was shoved up his ass,” said Fanone, who retired from the Washington DC police force after being wounded during the January 6th attack.

A new collective seeks to reinvigorate cinema in the mould of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg’s Dogme 95 movement, with a 10-point manifesto opposed to the internet

A group of Danish and Swedish film-makers have relaunched the notorious avant garde Dogme 95 movement with a manifesto updated for the internet age, vowing to make five films between them in a year, from handwritten scripts and without using the internet or any emails in the creative process.

“In a world where film is based on algorithms and artificial visual expressions are gaining traction, it’s our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct and human imprint,” said the five film-makers in a statement read at the Cannes film festival on Saturday.

The latest in an ongoing series of writers highlighting their go-to mood-lifting movies looks back at the 2008 Eastbourne-set teen comedy

Last year, it took me a grand total of three weeks to make the olive costume, Georgia Nicolson’s papier-mache creation from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Night and day, I slaved away, dipping strips of newspaper into a mix of flour and water, then patting it onto a giant-sized balloon. Never have I defined myself as anything close to arty. So why did I decide to dedicate a significant portion of my life to an elaborate craft project? The answer, of course, is simple. The olive costume is iconic, as the signature feature of the greatest teen movie ever made.

Just ask any girl who grew up in Britain in the noughties, and they’ll recognise the image: Georgia Nicholson, played by Georgia Groome, frantically running through the streets of Eastbourne dressed as a mammoth green hors d’oeuvre. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, the film based on the first two books in Louise Rennison’s series, was studied at our teenage sleepovers. We pored over it, reciting its lines as if they were from a sacred text. Even now, I can reel off the classic quotes without thinking. “Boys don’t like girls for funniness,” if you didn’t already know.

The WNBA stars are helping drive record-setting interest in the league. But the conversation distracts from other players, and brings in unwelcome ugliness

At first, it seemed that the Indiana Fever’s home win over Chicago Sky on Saturday would be just another spicy chapter in the rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Both players were typically excellent: Clark spurred the Fever to victory with a triple-double, while Reese grabbed 17 rebounds to go with her 12 points.

But it was a moment in the third quarter that WNBA fans will be talking about for weeks to come. Some of them may even do so without resorting to cheap bigotry. With 4:38 remaining, Clark reached for the ball over Reese’s head, made what appeared to be deliberate contact with her arm, and sent her opponent spiraling to the floor. There was a brief confrontation, Clark was hit with a flagrant foul and Reese received a technical. After the game, Clark said she didn’t have cynical intent leading up to the foul, and Reese agreed calling it “a basketball play.”