Ian Campbell commented on the "British" penchant for creating artificial states (I'm English and voting Yes for real change, News, September 14).

Many of the problems of the modern world stem from this aspect of British imperialism. I worked in Nyasaland (now Malawi) when it was part of the British-created Central African Federation. Fortunately, that only lasted a few years. I also saw the effects in Sri Lanka of putting the Sinhalese and Tamil peoples of that island in a single state. Perhaps worse, in the 1920s, Britain created the modern state of Iraq and bombed part of the Kurdish people into it against their will. With more recent interventions we now have the tragedy of the Islamic State in that area - which appears to act contrary to real Islamic principles. Let us hope that Scotland can contribute to peace and prosperity in the world of the future.

David Stevenson

Edinburgh