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More so than with other directors, it’s always tempting to overly psychologize Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, looking for traces of his personal development and hints of autobiography: the father figures of “Magnolia” or “The Master,” the partnership of “Phantom Thread,” parenthood in the new “One Battle After Another.” Yet two things truly set his work apart. There’s the incredibly high level of craft in each of them, giving each a unique feel, sensibility and visual identity, and also the deeply felt humanism: a pure love of people, for all their faults and foibles.

Anderson is an 11-time Academy Award nominee without ever having won, a situation that could rectify itself soon enough, and it speaks to the extremely high bar set by his filmography that one could easily reverse the following list and still end up with a credible, if perhaps more idiosyncratic ranking. Reorder the films however you like — they are all, still, at the very least, extremely good. Simply put, there’s no one doing it like him.

Perhaps nothing marks Anderson as a filmmaker from the ’90s as much as his impeccable use of music, from the drowned-in-sound deluge of “Boogie Nights” to his ongoing collaboration with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood as a composer. So just to add to the arguability of the following list, we’ve also noted a favorite song or two from each movie, the song titles often becoming surprise summations of the plots themselves.

This list is made in good faith, without any purposeful stuntery (honest). Feel free to let us know how your opinions vary.

IT will come as no surprise to their stylish famous fans, but Chelsea supporters are the best dressed in the Premier League.

The club’s followers are most likely to wear a smart suit for a night out, a survey has revealed.

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Celebrity fans including Gordon Ramsay, Jeremy Clarkson, David Baddiel, Madness singer Suggs and actor Phil Daniels are always well turned out for a trip to the club’s Stamford Bridge home — and regular fans have followed suit.

But it’s not really a surprise, as back in the Seventies Chelsea’s players, including Alan Hudson and Peter Osgood, were known as the kings of the King’s Road for their fashionable sense of style.

And the club’s 21st-century fans have maintained the tradition, according to research by betting site freebet.com, with 16 per cent getting suited and booted for a big night.

While fans of Newcastle, Burnley and Wolves were in the relegation zone with just one per cent being bothered to look smart.

The table shows there’s a clear North/South divide when it comes to off-the-pitch style.

The top seven spots are filled by teams from London and the south, with Man City and Leeds sharing eighth place with Brentford and West Ham with five per cent.

Spokesman Tim Agnew said: “Our research shows Chelsea fans are the best dressed fans in the Premier League.

“They already had a reputation for wearing Gucci and Prada and our research confirms Chelsea fans like to look sharp.”

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Convincing young Black people to become cops long been a tough sell at summer job fairs.

But in recent months the pool of recruits at the Los Angeles Police Department has shriveled to the point of running dry. The last two training academy classes haven’t included a single a Black graduate.

Despite offering generous pay and pensions, police agencies across the country have struggled since the pandemic with finding enough new officers regardless of race.

At the LAPD, the number of Black recruits — especially women — has been dropping for years, leaving the department far short of diversity goals put in place decades ago to counter discriminatory hiring practices.

Compounding matters is President Trump, who has embarked on a far-reaching campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion, or so-called DEI policies.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell quietly shut down the department’s DEI program during an administrative reshuffling this year. Massive cuts to federal agencies and university programs have some officials sounding alarms about a ripple effect in police hiring.

The Oscar Joel Bryant Assn., which represents the LAPD’s 700 or so Black officers, said conversations about responding to attacks on pro-diversity programs “do not need to wait for the future.”

“[T]hose concerns are here today for all groups,” Capt. Capt. Shannon Enox-White, the association’s president, said in a statement. “When we swore an oath to protect the Constitution and the organization’s very mission statement elevates DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) principles, I do not see how we can step away from them now or ever.”

Privately, some Black department officials expressed frustration with recent promotions announced by McDonnell. Only one Black leader moved up in rank. Emada Tingirides, a finalist for the police chief job is now the first Black woman in the department’s long history to hold the rank of assistant chief.

Many of the department’s older Black officers — who joined the force during a hiring push in the 1980s and ‘90s — are now nearing retirement. Several high-ranking Black LAPD officials, including Tingirides and Deputy Chiefs Gerald Woodyard and Alan Hamilton, have already enrolled in the deferred retirement program, meaning they probably will exit before the 2028 Olympic Games in L.A.

The department’s percentage of Black officers has dipped slightly to roughly 8% of the force, just below the percentage of Black city residents.

Diversity issues aside, the LAPD has grappled with other issues when it comes to finding and retaining cops of the future. The hiring process typically takes 250 days to complete after the background check, polygraph screening and a series of tests that each applicant is required to undergo. LAPD officials have said some exasperated candidates have opted to pursue opportunities with other agencies where the wait isn’t nearly as long.

But for some already in the department, the most glaring problem is a lack of support for Black people in uniform. They point to the quiet closure of the DEI office, whose staff members were reassigned and duties absorbed by other units. Proponents considered it a crucial support system for younger Black cops.

Without such support, they say, Black officers will be less likely to receive the professional development or opportunities to work in specialized units that can lead to supervisory roles.

Others argue that stories about the internal mistreatment of Black officers keep people from applying. This year, an officer from the department’s recruitment unit filed a complaint alleging he had recorded racist, sexist and homophobic comments by colleagues, which McDonnell and other officials condemned and pledged to investigate.

Over the last decade, the department has paid out more than $10 million in settlements or jury awards for officers alleging that they were discriminated against based on their race.

Like the city it polices, the LAPD has seen its demographics change dramatically in recent decades. With the department prodded by lawsuits and consent decrees, more than half of the once mostly white force is now Latino. But the number of Black cops — especially women — hasn’t budged much.

Some police critics said that increasing diversity alone isn’t a fix for larger, systemic issues with policing.

But a succession of LAPD leaders have said that diversifying the agency’s ranks is a priority, arguing that doing so can counter generations of distrust of police by Black Angelenos. Still, progress has been slow. A 2022 study by UCLA researchers revealed strong resistance within the department toward efforts to hire more women and officers of color.

Since the start of his second term in office, Trump has called diversity hiring efforts “illegal,” encouraging federal agencies to investigate and withhold funds from institutions that promote DEI practices.

Ivonne Roman of the Center for Policing Equity, a nonprofit think tank based at Yale University, said the president’s anti-affirmative orders will undoubtedly undercut efforts to turn the tide on declining Black officer numbers nationwide.

Even though most local police departments aren’t as dependent on federal funding as, say, public universities, police executives may feel less pressure to diversify their agencies in the current social climate, she said.

Steps such as the dismissal of Biden-era civil rights lawsuits that accused police departments of hiring disparities could embolden discrimination, she said.

“It’s going to have chilling effect,” Roman said.

NBA players make more money than their counterparts in other team sports. NFL and MLB might conjure fields of green, but NBA courts are the equivalent of the WALDIS Ultra safe — the preferred place to stash cash.

The reasons involve simple math. NBA rosters are half the size of those in MLB and a fraction of the size of those in the NFL. Fewer players share the spoils of television deals, merchandise sales, sponsorships and game attendance. That translates into more money per player.

That also means the contract signed Tuesday by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander giving him the richest annual salary ever is not a surprise. It’s business as usual.

Fresh off leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA championship, Gilgeous-Alexander — known as SGA — signed a four-year, $285-million super maximum contract extension that will kick in during the 2027-2028 season.

That’s $71.25 million a year. Cue the confetti emoji.

In general, NBA contracts are the most lucrative, MLB contracts the longest, and NFL contracts the trickiest to decipher because not all the money is guaranteed.

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani makes $70 million a year from the 10-year, $700-million contract he signed before the 2024 season. However, he is paid only $2 million a year because he agreed to defer the rest. The remaining $68 million per year will be paid from 2034 to 2043.

Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765-million contract with the New York Mets before the 2025 season that does not include deferments. The outfielder received a $75 million signing bonus and will be paid an annual salary of about $46 million through 2038.

Soto’s deal includes the option to opt out after the 2029 season, at which time the Mets can override his opt out by adding an additional $4 million per season to the final 10 years of his contract. That would increase his salary to $50 million per year and raise his total earnings to $805 million.

So, while Ohtani’s and Soto’s contracts are the most lucrative because of their length, the average annual value doesn’t match that of top NBA deals. Eighteen NBA players are under contract to make $50 million or more per season, according to Spotrac.

Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics became the first player to land a deal that will pay him $70 million in a season. The five-year, $314-million extension he agreed to a year ago will max out at $71.45 million for the 2029-30 season, the last on the contract.

Tatum’s teammate Jaylen Brown signed a similar deal a year earlier, agreeing to play five years for $285.4 million, an average of $57.1 million a season.

The most lucrative NFL contracts go exclusively to quarterbacks, six of whom are under contracts that guarantee $200 million or more. Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills tops the list with a $250-million guarantee from a six-year deal he signed in May.

Fellow passers guaranteed $200 million or more: Dak Prescott ($231 million) of Dallas, Deshaun Watson ($230 million) of Cleveland, Joe Burrow ($219 million) of Cincinnati, Justin Herbert of the Chargers ($218.7 million) and Trevor Lawrence ($200 million) of Jacksonville.

Next season, seven NFL players — all quarterbacks — will be paid more than $50 million: Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes ($56.8 million), Detroit’s Jared Goff ($55 million), Allen ($55 million), Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa ($55 million), Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson ($52 million), Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts ($51.5 million) and Green Bay’s Jordan Love ($51 million).

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is tied for 13th on the list at $40 million after his contract was restructured to give him a large raise from the $23 million he made in 2024.

The highest paid non-quarterback next season will be Philadelphia Eagles tackle Lane Johnson at $41.7 million.

Circling back to MLB, Angels outfielder Mike Trout continues to hold the largest contract value besides Ohtani and Soto. He signed a 12-year, $426.5-million contract in 2019, at the time the most lucrative contract in American sports.

Trout won his third American League Most Valuable Player award — he’s also finished second in the voting four times — in the first year of the deal, but in the six years since has played more than 100 games only once because of injuries.

Other MLB contracts of note, in order of total value, include the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million), the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (nine years, $360 million), the Mets’ Francisco Lindor (10 years, $341 million) and San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 years, $340 million).

Next season, the highest paid players behind Soto will be Phillies pitcher Zach Wheeler ($42 million), Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero ($40.2 million), Judge ($40 million) and Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon ($38.6 million).

At least for the Angels, it will be the last year they must pay Rendon. The seven-year, $245-million contract he signed before the 2020 season is one of the worst in sports history. He’s hit a grand total of 22 home runs in six seasons and hasn’t played more than 58 games in any single season. This year he isn’t expected to play because of a hip injury.

Guaranteeing a player an enormous sum of money and watching him disappoint is a risk teams take regardless of the sport. Witness Watson in the NFL and Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal (five years, $250 million) in the NBA.

Gilgeous-Alexander is considered a low-risk signing because of his youth, his makeup and the fact that NBA players maintain their peak performance longer than those in the NFL and MLB, where catastrophic injuries are more frequent.

The NBA scoring leader is only 26. Until his extension begins in the 2027-2028 season, he’ll have to make do with $38 million next season and $40 million the following year.

His total over the next six seasons will be $363 million and he still could be playing at a high enough level to merit another mega-deal. Although history has proven that by then, another player will have eclipsed what for now is a staggering salary.