Letter: Graceful exits are rarely available to the autocrat

Martin Wolf lists many advantages of democracy over autocracy (Opinion, April 3) but omits an important one. As Janan Ganesh notes (“Britain will dislike a Labour government in no time”, Opinion, April 3), “long-serving regimes are hated”.

In a democracy, leaders can retire gracefully and go on to pursue other interests (often involving exorbitant fees for appearances, it seems). Ousted dictators are usually imprisoned, sent into exile or executed.

Peter Slessenger
Reading, Berkshire, UK