Military juntas often relax their grip ahead of elections as a way of getting their vote out. Not so in Algeria. Bureaucrats there have disqualified all but two of the 34 contenders challenging the 78-year-old incumbent, Abdlemadjid Tebboune. At least one has been jailed. Hundreds of naysayers—who five years ago led a hirak, or uprising, against le pouvoir, or power, as Algerians call their system—have been rounded up. Foreign journalists have been kept away, too.

To inject a whiff of competition, the authorities have allowed a socialist half Mr Tebboune’s age (Youcef Aouchiche of the Socialist Forces Front) and an Islamist (Hassani Cherif of the Islamist Party Movement for Society and Peace) to run. But there is scant sign of campaigning on the streets. Normally Western governments protest about North Africa’s democratic deficit. But such is their thirst for Algeria’s hydrocarbons, which are being used as a substitute for Russia’s, that few risk criticising the charade—let alone championing a democratic transition.

On Saturday Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, will join Simon Harris, his Irish counterpart, in Dublin to watch an Ireland-England football match. On paper, the teams are mismatched. England is ranked fourth in the world and reached the final of this summer’s European Championship. Ireland, which has not qualified for the tournament since 2016, languishes in 58th place.

Yet in other respects the boot is on the other foot. Eager to “reset” Britain’s relations with the European Union, the new Labour government is said to be keen to enlist Ireland’s support. Before Brexit, British and Irish officials routinely met on the eve of European summits to hone their common positions. Nowadays they speak the same language but only one of them has a voice in Brussels. Ireland, supported by the EU , routinely stared down Mr Starmer’s Conservative predecessors during post-Brexit negotiations about the Northern Ireland border. Come Saturday night, in the interests of diplomacy, Sir Keir may well be hoping for a draw.

Whether you’re a designer or a celebrity sitting in the front row, fashion week is a time to make an impression. At this year’s New York Fashion Week, which begins on Friday—and officially kicks off “fashion month”—there will be many political as well as sartorial statements. One of the first events is a march in Manhattan, organised by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue, to encourage people to vote in the forthcoming presidential election.

There will be political messaging on the catwalks, too. Willy Chavarria, a Mexican-American designer, has called his show “América”. Designs feature the letters “USA ” back-to-front and upside down to reflect “how screwed this country is”, according to Mr Chavarria. Other brands, with an eye on November’s elections, may take a more subtle approach. Prabal Gurung, Carolina Herrera, Sergio Hudson and Michael Kors are all beloved by Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate. Their collections may be showcases in power dressing.

When it comes to trophy count, America remains the most successful tennis-playing country. Since 1968, when the sport opened up to professionals, American men have won 52 grand slams, tennis’s most prestigious tournaments. Spaniards, with 33, are a distant second. But in recent years American men have struggled. The last of those 52 titles was won 21 years ago, by Andy Roddick at the US Open.

That dismal streak could end this weekend. On Sunday Taylor Fritz will take on an Italian, Jannick Sinner, in the US Open final. America will also be represented in the women’s final on Saturday, when Jessica Pegula faces Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian. Though Mr Fritz and Ms Pegula will be cheered on by a raucous New York crowd, American victories are unlikely. Mr Sinner and Ms Sabalenka, who are number one and two in the world in their tours, are the overwhelming favourites to win the tournament.

Brian Niccol, the square-jawed, blue-eyed boss of Chipotle Mexican Grill, a chain of fast-food restaurants, presents himself as an all-American family man. His routine begins with a 6am workout. He takes his daughter to school. And then he drives ten minutes from his home in Newport Beach, California, to the office. He claims he finishes work by 6pm to walk the dog, make dinner with his wife and turn in early.

When Mr Niccol takes over as chief executive of Starbucks on September 9th, life will become a lot less simple. He will commute 1,000 miles to its headquarters in Seattle on a corporate jet. The unorthodox arrangement was approved by the coffee chain’s board, which hopes Mr Niccol will turn Starbucks’s fortunes around, as he has done elsewhere. After his appointment was announced on August 13th, shares in the coffee chain jumped by nearly 20%.

Starbucks’s sales in America, the group’s main market, slowed under the leadership of Laxman Narasimhan , a former management consultant who lasted less than 18 months in the job. Mr Niccol, who began his career at Procter & Gamble, the world’s biggest consumer-products firm by market cap, made his name at Chipotle. It too was struggling when Mr Niccol arrived in 2018, having failed to recover from a series of food-poisoning outbreaks in 2015. He revamped stores to make online ordering easier (a process that vexes Starbucks). He also launched a new campaign, “For Real”, that made much of the burrito chain’s commitment to fresh meals. A full ingredients list was published on Chipotle’s website. During Mr Niccol’s six-year tenure, the firm’s sales doubled, reaching $10bn in the 2023 financial year.

Some of the battles Mr Niccol will have to fight at Starbucks will be familiar. The chain needs a rebrand. And any new chief executive will need to get to know its three-time chief executive, Howard Schultz, who looms large over the business, just as Chipotle’s founder, Steve Ells, did.

But Starbucks is a global chain. It has almost 40,000 outlets compared with Chipotle’s 3,500 or so. Boycotts linked to the Israel-Hamas war have affected franchise operators in the Middle East. And sales in China, its second biggest market, are in decline as the economy cools and local competition heats up. With so much to do, and a long commute on top of it all, it looks as if Mr Niccol’s old life of cosy family time and early nights is over.