A key nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia has expired today, creating the potential for significant changes in U.S. force posture. This could include loading more warheads into Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), restoring nuclear weapons capability to dozens of B-52 bombers, sending Ohio class ballistic missile submarines on patrol with extra Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), or fielding all-new capabilities. There are reports that American and Russian officials are negotiating a voluntary commitment to leave the two countries’ nuclear arsenals as they are, but this would be a temporary measure that could still leave open the door to a new arms race if a more permanent agreement cannot be reached.

U.S. and Russian Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START Treaty in 2010, and it entered into force the following year. The terms of the deal included a provision for a one-time five-year extension, which U.S. and Russian Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin agreed to in 2021. Russia formally suspended its participation in the treaty in 2023, citing U.S. actions in relation to the war in Ukraine, but said it would voluntarily continue to abide by the imposed limits. The agreement now sunsets for good today. Years of U.S.-Russian negotiations have so far failed to produce a follow-on treaty.

New START limited each country to 700 deployed strategic missiles and bombers (700), 1,550 total strategic nuclear warheads, and 800 relevant deployed and non-deployed launchers. For purposes of the treaty, strategic missiles were defined as ICBMs and SLBMs. Each reentry vehicle inside a single ICBM or SLBM, as well as each nuclear-capable heavy bomber, counted as a single warhead. Bombers, along with silos and mobile transporter-erector launchers for IBCMs and SLBM launch tubes on submarines, were all treated as individual launchers.

Axios has reported that U.S. and Russian negotiators in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates have been working to finalize a non-legally-binding voluntary commitment to stick to the New START limits at least for another six months. Delegations from the United States and Russia were already in the Middle Eastern country for talks regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Those meetings have separately produced an agreement to re-establish a high-level U.S.-Russian military-to-military dialogue for the first time since 2021.

The Kremlin had released a statement yesterday that, in part, reiterated a call Putin first made last September for both parties “to commit to voluntary self-limitations to keep the quantitative ceilings on the relevant weapons specified in the Treaty for at least one year after the termination of the agreement.” It’s not clear how this would be verified without the inspection provisions that were central to New START.

“Rather than extend ‘NEW START’ (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future,” President Trump wrote today on his Truth Social platform. However, he did not explicitly rule out the possibility of a temporary voluntary arrangement in the interim.

“Not to my knowledge,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a routine press conference today when asked about whether a temporary agreement to continue abiding by the New START limits had been reached.

Regardless, in the absence of a formally binding agreement, the U.S. government does now technically have a free hand to make major changes to the state of America’s nuclear force posture for the first time in decades. There has been talk for years already about potential near-term steps the U.S. military might take if a more permanent deal did not emerge to follow New START’s sunset.

“A one-year extension would not prejudice any of the vital steps that the United States is taking to respond to the China nuclear build-up,” Rose Gottemoeller, a long-time American diplomat who served as the lead negotiator for New START, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee just this week. “The period will buy extra time for preparation without the added challenge of a Russian Federation, newly released from New START limitations, embarking on a rapid upload campaign. This would not be in the U.S. interest.”

Loading more warheads into LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBMs could be one option. Each of those ICBMs is currently tipped with a single warhead in line with the New START limits. However, the missiles were originally designed for a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) configuration with three warheads. Even with New START in force, Minuteman IIIs have still sometimes been fired as part of routine testing with multiple unarmed reentry vehicles, demonstrating that this remains an available capability.

Minuteman III Test Launch 4 Aug 2020 Vandenberg AFB, CA

“I do believe that we need to take serious consideration in seeing what uploading and re-MIRVing the ICBM looks like, and what does it take to potentially do that,” now-retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, then head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee back in 2024.

There are questions about how long it might take to ‘upload’ more warheads onto any portion of the 400 Minuteman IIIs currently sitting in silos spread across five states, and what that would cost. At least a portion of the deployed LGM-30Gs would also need to be refitted with MIRV-capable payload buses.

The number of warheads inside deployed Trident IIs, which also have a MIRV configuration, could also change in the future. These SLBMs can carry up to 14 individual warheads, depending on their exact type, but are understood to have often not had maximum loads to keep in line with New START’s provisions.

Under the terms of the treaty, the U.S. Navy also sealed off four of the 24 tubes on each of its 10 Ohio class ballistic missile submarines. In the past, Russian officials had complained about the extent (or lack thereof) of those modifications, which also involved the removal of certain internal components, and raised concerns about being able to regularly verify that the changes had not been reversed. Still, it is unclear exactly how much effort might be required to reactivate those tubes in the future.

There is also the matter of restoring nuclear capability to dozens of B-52 bombers that were modified to only be capable of employing conventional weapons as part of New START. Russia also previously raised concerns about the reversibility of those changes, which that country said involved “removing the nuclear code enabling switch and interconnection box, mounting a code enabling switch inhibitor plate, removing applicable cable connectors, [and] capping applicable wire bundles.” Nuclear-capable B-52s are readily identifiable today by antennas mounted on either side of the rear fuselage.

There has been some public disagreement in recent years about the cost and complexity of re-nuclearizing the B-52s, something TWZ has explored in the past. In the annual defense policy bill, or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), for the 2025 Fiscal Year, Congress did give the U.S. Air Force authority to pursue this course of action after New START came to a close. However, the provision in the NDAA, which was signed into law in December 2024, did not explicitly compel the service to do so.

There could be additional downstream impacts on the U.S. nuclear arsenal if a more formalized follow-on to New START does not emerge. This might include a MIRVed configuration for future LGM-35A Sentinel ICBMs, expanded orders for nuclear-capable B-21 Raider stealth bombers, and changes to the expected loadout of the forthcoming Colombia class nuclear ballistic missile submarines.

The U.S. Air Force is already looking to ramp up B-21 production, with the possibility that this could lead to an increased overall fleet size in the future. American officials have been supportive of buying additional Raiders beyond the currently stated acquisition target of 100 aircraft. The possibility of purchasing 145 or more of the bombers has been raised in the past. The Air & Space Forces Association’s internal Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies think tank is set to release a new white paper next Monday that calls for a future fleet of at least 200 B-21s (as well as 300 F-47 sixth-generation fighters).

Future U.S. developments could also extend to categories of nuclear weapons not currently in the American arsenal. The Air Force has at least explored the idea of a nuclear-armed hypersonic boost-glide vehicle. Retired U.S. Navy Adm. Charles Richard, who served as head of STRATCOM from 2019 to 2022, issued a new call for the U.S. military to develop a weapon of this kind at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. This is a capability already in service in Russia, at least to a degree. China has also been pursuing nuclear-capable weapons of this type, if they have not fielded them operationally already. The Russian and Chinese armed forces have also been working on other novel nuclear weapon capabilities, including space-based systems, which could influence future U.S. planning going forward.

It is worth noting here that any efforts to increase the total size of America’s stockpile, rather than field new capabilities that replace existing ones, would require significant investments on various levels. Last year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the current slate of U.S. nuclear modernization efforts would cost nearly a trillion dollars, in total, between 2025 and 2034. The U.S. military is also now pushing ahead with the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, which is also expected to run into the hundreds of billions of dollars and will otherwise impact the strategic landscape.

China, which is in the midst of a massive buildup of its nuclear arsenal, has been a central factor in discussions to date about a follow-on strategic arms control agreement to New START. U.S. officials have pushed to include the Chinese in any future agreement, something authorities in Beijing have repeatedly balked at. China’s current nuclear arsenal is still much smaller than those of either the United States or Russia. The U.S. government has assessed that China’s total stockpile could go from approximately 600 nuclear warheads today to 1,000 by 2030, and then to 1,500 by 2035. As noted, the U.S. and Russian governments were each allowed 1,550 strategic warheads under New START. Both countries have even more nuclear weapons that were never covered by New START, to begin with, and more are in development now.

“The President’s been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile,” Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio said during a press conference yesterday in response to a question about New START.

SECRETARY RUBIO: The President has been clear that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China — because of their vast & rapidly growing stockpile. pic.twitter.com/FiYVUsBAVb

— Dylan Johnson (@ASDylanJohnson) February 5, 2026

New START’s expiration has fueled already growing concerns about the prospect of a new global nuclear arms race, which would not necessarily be limited to the United States, Russia, and China. The treaty’s sunset follows the steady collapse in recent years of a series of other arms control agreements between the United States and Russia, as well as other treaties intended to promote general transparency in military affairs. The U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, in 2019 over complaints about Russian violations has already had a notable impact on the development and fielding of new nuclear and conventionally-armed missiles in both countries.

The end of New START presents a “grave moment for international peace and security,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement yesterday.

Whether or not a temporary voluntary moratorium on the expansion of stockpiles on both sides leads to a new agreement, and one that might include China, is still an open question. Altogether, it remains to be seen now whether the New START limits continue to hold in the United States or Russia in the absence of a binding agreement.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

JILL SCOTT does not rush records. She only goes into the studio when she feels she has got something she needs to say.

The American singer’s sixth album, To Whom This May Concern, arrives a decade after her last effort for exactly that reason.

“It took me 27 years to make Who Is Jill Scott?,” she says of her landmark debut. “And all the experiences in those years I put into that album.

“These projects don’t just happen overnight, it doesn’t work that way. So, it took me ten years to make this album.

“Why did it take so damn long? Because it takes time to make a great meal. It takes time to decorate your home. You don’t rush it. I took my time because I care.”

Writing only when there is something urgent to say, and letting the music lead the message, is the way the Grammy-winning artist and actor creates.

READ MORE MUSIC INTERVIEWS

THE BIG INTERVIEW

‘If you have a big voice, people want to hear it’ says Nathaniel Rateliff

KILLING IT

We feel like The Beatles on stage, says The Killers’ Brandon Flowers

She says: “I wait for it to come and the things that came out of me for this album shocked the hell out of me, too.

“On some songs, I’m an anthropologist, studying people. I’m on social media and hearing how a lot of people are not satisfied and that’s a damn shame.

“It’s a little harder for me to just sit on a park bench and watch people.”

I meet Scott at her publicist’s office in central London.

I am very excited about the musicianship on this album. The horn players and the bass, which is all over this album, is amazing.

Jill Scott

Dressed in orange, she is bright, friendly and effortlessly glamorous, although she says the jet lag has been hard to deal with.

She’s been over here for a week of promotion, including an album launch where she introduced tracks from To Whom This May Concern and took questions from fans.

“That was a pretty exciting night,” she says. “And the response was great, which was good as I was scared because it’s the first time playing this new music for a bunch of people in a room.

“I am very excited about the musicianship on this album. The horn players and the bass, which is all over this album, is amazing. It’s not a plug-in, it’s a player.”

At 19 tracks long, this is an impressive album. Collaborators include Trombone Shorty, Maha Adachi Earth, DJ Premier and rappers Tierra Whack, JID and Ab-Soul.

Recent single Pressha and Don’t Play touch on relationships.

Jill says: “Pressha is about a toxic past relationship while Don’t Play is a template for how to have a date where you actually want to get to know someone.

“It’s not just about what box they tick or what salary they earn. Then BPOTY — Biggest Pimp Of The Year — I wrote after looking at society and thinking, ‘My God, these folks are pimping us’.

“Like the pharmaceutical companies. I had been taking some medication and I didn’t really need it, I was being pimped and so it began with that story.”

‘Music is medicinal’

A diverse record blending soul, rap and jazz, it features beautiful ballads such as Me 4 and Àse, showcasing the poetic storytelling Scott has long been celebrated for.

“When I heard how diverse the music was, it made sense as an album,” she explains.

“People are going to get what they’re going to get what they need from it at different times. I believe music is medicinal. Like when I first heard of Billie Holiday, I didn’t really hear her until I got my feelings hurt.

“Then I listened again and everything clicked and made sense — how poignant her words were — and that’s why this album is called To Whom This May Concern.”

Be Great is a superb track as both a declaration and mantra, designed for everyday moments of courage.

“I want people to play it before their auditions, job interviews or anything that matters to you,” says Scott. “Go ahead and be fantastic at it, whatever it is.

“I just got the music and the lyrics popped out. I see it as Golden’s cousin [her 2004 anthem]. Yeah, they’re definitely related.”

Offdaback, which Scott says is her favourite track on her new album, pays homage to her heroes who came before her, artists and pioneers who stood up for freedom and music.

“The ancestors have to be honoured,” she explains.

“Whether it was your grandmother who worked in somebody’s house in order to make sure your mother had food, or it was your dad who worked three jobs so you could go to college or so you could live your dream.

“As an artist every day I’m reminded of how many people have made a way for me to be here.

“My office wall has photos of all the people who have inspired me. Diana Ross, Missy Elliott, Led Zeppelin and Queen Latifah are on there.

“I admire so many. Nina Simone for being so frank and fearless; Tina Turner for being so brave and using her voice.

“The list goes on. Frankie Beverly was beloved to me and Prince was my number one, and Bette Midler showed me that you don’t have to be around, knocking on doors all the time. You can disappear for a while, too.

“I went to see Frankie Beverly and Maze and they’d not had a record out for 25 years but everyone at the show is up and singing at the top of their voices.

“Music is about that feeling, about camaraderie and unity. I feel really honoured that anyone would feel that about my music.

“However, I’m still working on the other stuff that comes with that.”

There was a recent social media post of Scott being stopped by a fan who recognised her on the street — and she tells me she still finds that side of fame difficult.

Staying human

She says: “I value my time in just taking a walk, I really do. It’s important to me and it helps me balance everything else. The guy was sweet and I loved his freckles but being stopped in the street is not easy for me.

“Yes, 26 years later, I’m still working on it. I get good advice about it. My mentors tell me the value of maintaining the private self and staying human.

“When people put you on a pedestal it’s a very dangerous game and it’s not the game I play.”

When Scott emerged in 2000 as the voice in neo-soul, blending R&B, jazz, soul and spoken word, she found the spotlight overwhelming.

“It was terrifying and exciting,” she says with a smile. “I had a good two or three weeks where I was like, ‘This is so fun’. And then it didn’t stop.

“People were driving by my house playing the album at full capacity at three o’clock in the morning.

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, because that’s not where I live — I live in grace and gratefulness all the time.

“It just was never my priority. I see people who are far more famous than me, and God bless them, but balance really matters to me. I’m a writer first, I just happen to sing.

“I have to be human and recognise how flawed I am and how much I’m working through things and honouring myself in all the things.

`’So, my goal is to be grand and gracious and have patience with other people. And when I can’t, I go into the house. That’s how I live.”

I think as a society, we’re holding on to a lot of people that don’t benefit our lives.

Jill Scott

Pay U On Tuesday is a fun song which Scott says: “Comes from being exhausted of family members who I used to be friends with that just don’t value the same things.”

It’s a direct song which even comes with a disclaimer (in the form of a track called Disclaimer) before it.

She laughs and says: “Oh yes there’s a disclaimer. But cutting ties is sometimes needed.

“Maybe they’re not ready to be respectful now, but I think as a society, we’re holding on to a lot of people that don’t benefit our lives.

“What I’ve learned in these 53 years is that I love when the people around me bloom and I want to continue to bloom.

“This album has been brought to you by education for your home. For your family.

“I definitely don’t like being perimenopausal. That’s not fun. It’s made certain things a lot more challenging, like staying fit, and sometimes you don’t sleep and a dress doesn’t fit but I count on the joys.

“I’m a big advocate for a book called The Celestine Prophecy, which reminds me to constantly look for beauty.”

Growing up in North Philadelphia, “Jilly from Philly” says she owes her positivity and happy childhood to her mother and grandmother. “My mother showed me art and creativity and I’m grateful,” she tells me.

Although there was a lot of drugs and violence around her, she also saw “kind and beautiful-spirited people” — and that spirit is at the heart of the track Norf Side.

“It’s a celebration of the place,” she says.

For that song, she wanted another voice from North Philly and her son Jett suggested Tierra Whack, a brilliant MC and remarkable poetess. “We are both a reflection of that place,” she says.

Scott, who has a charitable foundation in North Philadelphia which has been sending kids to camp and to college for more than 20 years, says she could have made an album about what’s going on in the US politically but chose a theme of personal revolution over performative outrage and political frustration.

‘Joy, passion, rage’

“I think that’s another album,” she says. “Right now, I’m really focused on growth and healing — the human stuff.

“Then maybe there will be the kind of revolution that this kind of turmoil deserves.”

On the death of mum-of-three Renee Good, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis last month, she says: “This has been going on in the United States for longer than my whole life — it’s not new.

“It just happened to happen to a Caucasian woman so the world is shaken and they’re seeing it.”

Making a name for herself in acting as well as music and poetry, she has starred in 2007 comedy Why Did I Get Married? and TV series The No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

Scott says she is taking her time when it comes to choosing her next role, paying close attention to both the director and the writing.

Live performance, however, is non-negotiable. “I will be touring. That is a fact.”

For now, the focus is firmly on this record. “I just want people to come back and listen to it again and again,” she says.

“I’ve sprinkled levels of joy, frustration, passion and even rage. When that last chord plays, I want people to sit with it — and then start all over again. Each time, there’s something new.”

• To Whom This May Concern is out on February 13.

JILL SCOTT

To Whom This May Concern

★★★★★

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina and the United States said they reached an expansive trade deal Thursday, boosting President Javier Milei as he moves to open up the South American nation’s notoriously protectionist economy and reflecting the close alliance between the radical libertarian and President Trump.

Argentina’s foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, posted a selfie on social media showing him and several diplomats beaming after emerging from a meeting in Washington where he said they’d signed the pact.

“Congratulations to our team and thanks to the U.S. Trade Representative’s team for building this great agreement together,” Quirno wrote. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also confirmed the deal.

The countries announced a framework for the agreement in November, saying Argentina would ease restrictions on a range of American imports, including cattle, dairy products, medicines, chemicals, machinery, medical devices and vehicles. Those were key concessions for Argentina, where local industries long protected by steep tariffs have expressed concern about their ability to compete with American manufacturers.

The U.S., for its part, would remove reciprocal tariffs on imports of “certain unavailable natural resources” and ingredients for pharmaceutical goods from Argentina, according to the framework.

At the time, the White House reached similar frameworks with Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador — part of what it described as an effort to improve the ability of American firms to sell industrial and agricultural products in Latin American countries and bring down food prices for U.S. consumers.

Officials did not immediately offer details about the final version of the U.S.-Argentina deal signed Thursday.

The agreement marks the latest development in the close alliance between Trump and Milei, who has reshaped Argentine foreign policy to align with the U.S., earned Trump’s praise for stabilizing his nation’s crisis-prone economy and traveled to the U.S. more than a dozen times in the last two years. Milei is scheduled to appear at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate next week to speak at a gala.

Trump supported Milei’s fiscal program last year with a $20-billion credit line that succeeded in calming markets and boosting Milei’s prospects in a crucial midterm election in October. The U.S. Treasury also directly purchased U.S. dollar-denominated Argentine bonds that ratings agencies were classifying as “junk” at the time and snapped up the volatile local currency that Argentines were dumping in droves.

The extraordinary intervention drew backlash from across the U.S. political spectrum.

Trump’s MAGA base questioned the need to bail out a far-flung country that’s not only of little importance to the U.S. but also directly competes with its exports of corn, wheat, meat and oil.

Democratic lawmakers expressed outrage that Trump was staking taxpayer money on a political gift to an ideological soulmate.

That criticism has continued, with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, on Thursday appealing to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to end the $20-billion lifeline.

In a letter, she wrote that even though the Treasury promised its credit line for Argentina “was for an acute, short-term, and urgent purpose, it appears … to have left open the possibility of continued use.”

Debre writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks one to seven and 9-15, with week eight and week 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London’s O2 Arena on 23 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

If players are level on points after the 16 weeks then places are decided by nights won and then matches won.

Explosion took place at an unregulated mine in the northeastern East Jainta Hills area.

An explosion at an illicit coal mine in northeast India has killed at least 18 people, according to local authorities.

Police on Thursday said they had pulled 18 bodies from the blast site, located in a remote part of East Jainta Hills district.

Eight others were wounded in the incident, said local official Manish Kumar. It is unclear how many workers were at the site during the explosion; others may still be trapped, said police.

Kumar said rescuers paused operations at sundown Thursday and planned to resume Friday with support from state and federal personnel. He described the site as an “illegal rat-hole mine”, referring to a deep, narrow shaft where workers risk hazardous conditions to extract coal and other minerals.

District police chief Vikash Kumar said dynamite likely triggered the blast, but investigations were ongoing.

“It is likely that the workers died either from burn injuries or breathing issues because of the release of noxious fumes,” said Kumar in a statement carried by The Indian Express. “But because there is no one who has come out in a condition to tell us exactly what happened and how many workers were there in total, we do not have an estimation of how many more may be trapped.”

Prime Minister Modi announces compensation

Conrad Sangma, chief minister of the Indian state of Meghalaya, where the incident occurred, pledged that authorities would hold those responsible accountable and urged against illegal mining.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed “condolences” to the families of the deceased workers and announced a 200,000 rupees ($2,216) compensation package for each family. “Pained by the mishap in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya,” his office wrote in a post on X.

Unregulated coal pits are common in India’s east and northeast regions, with workers earning between $18 to $24 for a day-long shift.

Back in 2018, at least 15 miners were killed while trapped in one such mine in Meghalaya state.

Rat-hole mining has been banned in Meghalaya since 2014 due to water pollution concerns.

Successful romances star at least one looker. I don’t mean someone attractive. I mean an actor who gazes at their scene partner with such delight that we swoon, too. Clark Gable was a looker. Diane Keaton was a looker. The combined eyeball voltage of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone is so powerful that it’s turned silly scripts into hits.

Harry Melling is a late-blooming looker. Onscreen most of his youth as the Muggle brat Dudley Dursley in the “Harry Potter” franchise, Melling is only just now getting to show off that talent in the funny-kinky “Pillion,” which puts him on his knees beaming up at Alexander Skarsgård’s 6-foot-4 biker as though this blond hunk was the sun. His Colin, a shy gay man who sings the high notes in a barbershop quartet, is so visibly infatuated licking Skarsgård’s leather boots in a dark alley that you believe he lusts for humiliation. Colin has only just discovered that fact about himself. He’s yet to even learn this man’s name. (It’s Ray.)

Perhaps you’d like to be taken to dinner first, but “Pillion” is about Colin’s needs — specifically his need to please — and first-time feature filmmaker Harry Lighton challenges us to root for his bliss. This fetishy adventure is a minimalist romantic comedy in which submissive meets dominant, and submissive explores his physical and emotional vulnerabilities. Marriage and a baby carriage are off the table; the journey matters, not the destination.

“Pillion” is what motorcyclists call the passenger seat, at least in suburban England where this is set. It’s a passive position compared to the driver, but still a cooler upgrade from where Colin starts the movie riding in: the rear of a sedan. Out the car’s back window, he sees Ray zoom by in white Stormtrooper-looking gear and, by happenstance, bumps into him that night at a pub where Colin’s mother, Peggy (Lesley Sharp), has set up a blind date with a nice bloke. That guy gets forgotten the instant Ray slips Colin a note with a time and place to meet.

Peggy isn’t panicked by her son’s alpha-male predilections. “I think a biker sounds exciting,” she says with a grin. His father, Pete (Douglas Hodge), just wants him to wear a helmet. Neither parent is privy to the fact that Ray simply isn’t very nice. Ray controls the gobsmacked Colin quietly, calculating the bare minimum of kindness required to have a house boy willing to cook dinner, tend to his Rottweiler and sleep on the floor. He withholds his approval to keep the paler, smaller man anxious.

That Rottweiler contended for the Palm Dog at last year’s Cannes, a prize for the festival’s best canine. Frankly, Melling himself should have won. His performance is pure puppy, from the way he silently studies Ray’s silent cues to the eagerness with which he leaps up to fetch Ray a beer. When Ray lavishes attention on another biker’s pet pillion, Kevin (Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters), Colin sulks until his master unzips his trousers and gives him a treat.

Flexing his abs in shiny Motoralls, Skarsgård uses his own appeal to expose an unattractive wrinkle in human behavior: Ray is so gorgeous that everyone just takes it as fact that Colin is lucky to be near him. When a coworker asks this scrawny geek how he bagged a hunk like Ray, Colin brags that he has “an aptitude for devotion,” which includes wearing a padlock around his neck and shaving his Byronesque curls so that he looks like a zealot — which in a way, he is.

Over and over, Colin takes stock of his own debasement. But then he looks at his model-handsome lover and calculates that his suffering is worth it. He’s good at compartmentalizing; he’s a parking violations attendant who tickets angry people all day. When he needs an excuse to cry, he finds one (and it hurts to watch).

Lately, it’s been a thrill to see queer stories confidently leapfrog over coming-out narratives to the trickier question of whether two individuals in particular are a decent match. Lighton leaps further than that — he goes full Evel Knievel by daring to ask how we feel about a relationship that’s indecent, but still has worth as a set of training wheels for a wobbly young man learning what he wants.

It’s a more optimistic take on Colin and Ray’s coupledom than was in the book that inspired the script, Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 novella “Box Hill,” which was subtitled “A Story of Low Self-Esteem.” A study of the psychology of abuse, that story’s more brainwashed version of Colin finds him decades older looking back on the affair and pining for a relationship that reads as horrible between the lines.

Lighton isn’t oblivious to the power imbalance, but he’s made a movie about going forward, not being stuck. He trusts his naif with more agency, and so “Pillion” is freer to play its insults for laughs. You’ll giggle a lot. That gleam in Melling’s eyes makes it feel like a comic fantasy, although who knows? Perhaps there really are BDSM biker gangs hosting afternoon picnics with serving boys tied spread-eagled on a buffet table. That bucolic scene is filmed in a slow pivot around the park, cinematographer Nick Morris getting a chuckle from how the image shifts from Georges Seurat to “Hellraiser.”

Eventually, Colin’s parents will be more flinchy about his new boyfriend, leading to a beat or two that don’t land with the impact they could. Oddly, Lighton might be too restrained himself. Like his leads, he prefers to say everything with a look.

But while Melling is always endearingly open and responsive, Skarsgård stays unreadable. His Ray always seems to be hiding behind a motorcycle visor even when he’s not and when he deigns to speak, the words trail off in a huff of exhaustion. The only thing we know about Ray’s life are the names of his two previous dogs, and that’s only because he has them tattooed on his chest.

Any more personal facts about Ray — his own job or family or romantic history, even his favorite movie — would risk us clinging onto it too tightly as an explanation of what he gets out of this himself. Serving Ray’s pleasure is Colin’s focus. And our focus is on Colin’s pursuit of that.

Yet with subtle skill, Skarsgård reveals that Ray is thinking about Colin more than he’s willing to let on. Curiosity flickers across his face when his submissive surprises him. He stays gruff, of course, but you sense that Ray is as manacled by his authoritarian role as Colin literally is in his hungry, slurping devotion to his master. Puny and pathetic as Colin appears, he begins to seem like the braver of the two. It takes courage to map your own boundaries — then to cross over that line and get hurt, and get back up and out there. Lighton’s biker BDSM rom-com might sound niche, but free yourself to see it and you’ll discover it’s a universal romance.