H&D joins the Nationalist 100 Club!

Mark Cotterill reports as Heritage and Destiny reaches its first centenary edition.

Heritage and Destiny has now joined the very exclusive group (known as the 100 Club) of UK nationalist publications that has made it to issue 100 – which no doubt will upset many of the loons who post on the nutzi online forums who said we would never reach issue 50, let alone 100!

We join the esteemed ranks of Spearhead (438), New Frontier/British Nationalist (207), The Flag (147), Voice of Freedom/Freedom (143), NF News (126), and Identity (103), all of whom published over 100 issues, but are sadly no longer with us.

Then there is League Sentinel – published by the League of St George, which recently published issue 124, and of course Candour – published by the AK Chesterton Trust, which is still going after over 60 years and has just published issue 873! If I have missed any out, a thousand apologies, as my good friend Mustafa would say after he had skipped his round!

Our very first issue was published way back in the summer of 1999 as “The Newsletter of the American Friends of the BNP” (AF-BNP). It was only eight pages, but it was a start of better things to come.

Issue 1 included: My editorial, introducing Heritage & Destiny, and The American Friends of the BNP; an article written by me from The Spotlight newspaper on the British National Party; a report on a recent Council of Conservative Citizens Conference; a CD Review: Blue Ridge Kind of Love, by Jim Houck & Friends, a book review: My Awakening by David Duke and an obituary for Pauline Louise Mackey, in fact many of the same features that still appear today, in this issue 100.

The H&D “team” for issues 1 to 4 consisted of just myself and Carl Knittle and was produced in a very basic format (cut and paste!) in the basement of Carl’s home in Ashburn, in northern Virginia.

By issue 5 we had recruited another expatriate “Brit” – Carl Clifford – to the H&D team. Carl transformed the magazine using desk top publishing – PageMaker. Also joining the “team” for issue 5 was long-standing American national socialist Martin Kerr – which meant we were now four strong (two Brits and two Yanks).

The magazine was now twenty pages and was being produced from my apartment in Falls Church, Virginia – which doubled up as the AF-BNP HQ. We also had a website (thanks to Carl Clifford) and we were holding regular meetings and even demonstrations in the Washington DC area. It was all go!

Strangely many years later Carl Clifford’s wife Stephanie ran (unsuccessfully) a couple of times in Democratic Party primaries for the Virginia state senate. As my old mate John Ross would say, “they would never believe us back home!”

The final American issue – number 9 – was published in the summer of 2001, shortly before the Federals (on the instructions of the SPLC) closed the AF-BNP down. I would have liked to have reached issue 10 stateside, but oh well, that’s life, I guess.

The American government (INS) issued me with a ten-year exclusion order the following summer and I finally vacated “the land of the free and home of the brave” on November 3rd 2002 and returned to ‘good Olde Blighty’ (Blackburn in East Lancashire to be exact).

It would be another six months before H&D was finally resurrected on this side of the pond, with the help of Peter Rushton, who volunteered to help me start it up again (and has been with us ever since), and with Martin Kerr and Carl Knittle looking after the American side. In February 2003 (I think!) we published issue 10 – dated winter 2003.

We managed quite easily to open up a UK H&D bank account (which would be a lot harder to do now) as well as a Blackburn PO Box for our main postal address. We also had a new PO Box address in Ashburn, Virginia, as our American address that was run by Carl Knittle.

Issue 10 included articles: No One Likes Us (the English): But We Don’t Care! – by Stephen Davies; The Columbians: Founding Fathers of American White Nationalism – Part I of what was to become a 8 part history of the American movement by Martin Kerr; Tolkien: Ring-bearer for racial nationalism, by Paul Comben; A Movie Review: Lord of the Rings – Part I, The Fellowship of the Ring, reviewed by Martin Kerr; A CD Review: Ballads for the New Britain, a Red White & Blue compilation, reviewed by Jamie Richards. And three book reviews – Imperium, (2nd edition with foreword by Mark Weber), reviewed by Martin Kerr; Race, Genetics and Society: Glayde Whitney on the Scientific and Social Policy Implications of Racial Differences, reviewed by me; and Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc, by Joe Pearce, reviewed by Paul Francis.

Like Peter Rushton, I had been purged from the Griffin BNP, so H&D became an independent racial-nationalist magazine. We were, as our masthead proclaimed, “The Radical Voice of British Nationalism”. It took Peter and myself a couple of issues to find our feet, but from 2004 onwards we just never really looked back.

From issue 14, H&D became “The Radical Voice of White Nationalism”. This reflected both the magazine’s growing readership overseas and our commitment to White nationalism. The Union Jack flag on the masthead was replaced by the Teutonic Knight carrying the Celtic Cross flag instead.
However, the Celtic Cross only lasted five issues, and was replaced in issue 18, by the Teutonic Knight carrying a “3 Lions” (or Leopards if you wish) flag. This reflected the magazine’s support for the England First Party, for which I would be elected a Borough Councillor in Blackburn just over a year later.

The slogan on the masthead also changed yet again (for the final time!) to “Stand Men of the West – today is the day we fight”. I felt this slogan (from The Lord of the Rings movie) best summed up – in a one-liner – what we are all about.

Issue 20 included articles: America the Big Lie – by Walter Mueller; Time to get back to the streets – by Eddy Morrison; An Obituary to Dr. Samuel Francis – by me. A movie review: The Alamo (2004) – by me. And book review: Tom Sunic’s Against Democracy and Equality, the European New Right reviewed by Peter Rushton.

The magazine increased to twenty-four pages from issue 22 (the John Tyndall obituary issue). And issue 29 was the last to feature the Teutonic Knight on the masthead. From issue 30 the masthead had instead a more professional looking three lions/leopards oblong banner, which we have kept to this day.

Issue 23 (Jan-March 2006) was the last time we used the Ashburn, Virginia PO Box as our American address, as Carl Knittle who had looked after the H&D correspondence stateside up until then was moving out of state. From issue 24 (April-June 2006) we had a new address in Falls Church, Virginia, only a few miles from the original AF-BNP PO Box, which had also been in Falls Church. Our American assistant editor Martin Kerr took over the running of things stateside.

Issue 30 included articles: Manfred Roeder arrested at Heathrow and excluded from UK; and 40 Years of the National Front, Part I – both by Peter Rushton. Book Review: Shots Fired – Dr Sam Francis on America’s Culture War, reviewed by Ian Freeman. Movie Review: Ghosts of Cité Soleil – reviewed by me. And a DVD Review: The BNP Chronicles, Vol. 5: Tomorrow Belongs to Us, reviewed by David Ryan.

Issue 38 (Oct-Dec 2009) was the last time that we used a UK PO/BCM box as our contact address. From issue 39 (to this day) we have used a real address – H&D Towers in Preston, Lancashire. Contrary to what many keyboard/internet nationalists may say/think about using a real address, H&D Towers has never been attacked (yet!) by Reds/Jews/Immigrants, although to be fair we have been attacked (twice) by local drug dealers, but such is life on a former Preston council estate!

Issue 40 included articles: Suez 1956: A Tale of Collusion & Zionism – by Ronald Rickcord; American Renaissance Conference Proceeds Despite Far Left Threats, by Jared Taylor. Book reviews: Defence of the Realm: History of MI5 reviewed by Peter Rushton and The British Free Corps, reviewed by Martin Kerr; and movie review: The Firm, reviewed by me.

In October 2010 H&D held its first John Tyndall Memorial Meeting (JTMM), in Preston, having taken over the event from Ricky Fawcus. A report of the meeting was published in issue 43. This was the 5th annual JTMM and H&D would go on to host another seven meetings in Preston, with attendances ranging from just under 50 to just over 130. The final JTMM hosted by H&D (the 12th) was held in October 2017 and featured on an ITV Exposure programme! A report of this meeting was published in issue 81.

We hope to be able to hold another JTMM sometime in the near future, maybe even later this year, but that of course depends on the Covid lockdown situation, and if we can even legally hold large indoor meetings ever again.

From issue 49, the magazine changed from a quarterly to a bi-monthly and has remained so to this day. To be honest with such a lot of hard-copy movement publications folding during the previous ten years, it was a bit of a gamble turning H&D into a bi-monthly in 2012. But we hung in there and are still publishing today!

Issue 50 was a bit of a milestone itself, and included articles: English Identity in an Olympic Jubilee Year, by Peter Rushton; Gigolo Cops and Neurotic Transfer by Simon Sheppard; The Mullin Family – by Harry Mullin; Movie Review – Wrath of the Titans, reviewed by me. And CD review – Killing Joke’s MMXII, reviewed by Ian Webb.

Issue 58 (Jan/Feb 2014) was the last time we used the Falls Church, Virginia, PO Box as our American address, as we were experiencing a number of problems with the local post office. From issue 59 (March/April 2014) we had a new address in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the running of things stateside was taken over by former AF-BNP member Sidney Secular, who to this day remains H&D‘s top distributor stateside.

Issue 60 included articles: Nationalism in Europe 2014, and BNP in the Last Chance Saloon: 2014 Local Elections – both by Peter Rushton; Ukraine Crisis: a new perspective – by Ivan Winters. Book Reviews: Franco’s International Brigades – reviewed by Adrian Davies; and Rangers FC – We Don’t Do Walking Away – The Incredible Inside Story – reviewed by Gil Caldwell.

Issue 70 included articles: The original British National Party and its secret MP by Peter Rushton; Cuba Revisited, by David Astin; Horst Mahler – Victim of Democratic Tyranny – by Richard Edmonds and Lady Michèle Renouf; Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, The Debunking of a Myth: Part III – by Stephen Goodson; and Book Review: Black Nazis II!, reviewed by Gordon Stridiron.

From issue 70, January/February 2016, we inserted an extra sheet of A4 (a Subscribers’ Update, carrying internal news and small ads on one side and bigger adverts on the reverse) giving us in fact 26 pages. This has proved very popular with most subscribers, so we have kept this format ever since.

Issue 74 (Sept/Oct 2016) was the last time we used an American address. To be honest although it was nice (and quite impressive!) to be able to have H&D addresses both sides of the pond, it was just not cost effective anymore. The vast majority of American subscribers were now paying online, and those who could not did not seem to mind posting their checks to our UK address, so reluctantly we closed down our Silver Spring, Maryland address.

From issue 78 (May-June 2017) Martin Kerr stepped down as one of H&D‘s two assistant editors (the other being Peter Rushton who is still going strong!). Since the death of Matt Koehl in October 2014, Martin had been playing a much more active role in New Order, eventually taking over as the group’s Chief of Staff. He just did not have the time to do both. Martin remains a staunch friend and supporter of H&D as well as being one of our main distributors in the USA.

Issue 80 included articles: White Sharia, by Simon Sheppard; The Infantilization of Modern Man – by Richard Duchesne; and Carl Klang and his music – by Eddy Morrison. Book Reviews: The Racial Loyalist Manifesto, reviewed by Martin Kerr; and Mark Collett’s The Fall of Western Man – reviewed by Peter Rushton.

Issue 90 included: A Spectre Haunting Europe, nationalist and populist parties on the march – by Peter Rushton; The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms at the British Library – by Tony Paulsen. A double Book Review: After the Reich: From the Fall of Vienna to the Berlin Airlift, and Orderly and Humane: The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War – both reviewed by Ian Freeman. A Movie Review: Outlaw King – reviewed by me. And Old Poet’s Corner: The Crown in the Thorns – by Eddy Morrison.

Issue 92 (Sept-Oct 2019), was our twentieth anniversary issue, which was quite a feat in itself. However, I’m pleased we have got at long last to issue 100. As they say anything after that is just a bonus!

It’s frequently pointed out to me by many social-media nationalists (most of whom don’t even subscribe to H&D as they find £28 too hard to part with) that it would be much cheaper and much easier if we were to go completely online. Dump the hard-copy, with the envelopes and stamps into the history dustbin, like most of 21st century nationalism has already done – they cry.

Even most websites seem old-fashioned and out of date, to this new breed of revolutionaries. They tell me that H&D should be blogging, and tweeting (I admit we do tweet a bit!), but most of all carry on the fight for Race and Nation, via Facebook, as that’s where the real battle is! Be it on smart phones, tablets and/or other assorted “devices”, that’s how we will win our country back – they tell me!

However, I must beg to disagree. They are welcome to carry on their heroic crusade online, and I’m sure it must do some good for the cause (I think?), but there are whole groups of our people out there who do not go on Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram and TikTok, or even have internet access. Many do not even bother to go on the internet, they don’t have smart phones, tablets or even laptops, either by choice or because of their individual life situations.

And these are not just elderly people (although to be fair they do make up a sizeable part of the non-internet crowd). There are also an admirable minority among the under-60s who have made a deliberate and calculated decision to remove these machines (including TVs) from their lives forever. I spoke with one of these guys a while back in Devon and he told me that it was amazing, living with no internet and just having a phone that you can talk through! He explained it like it was as if you had left the big city, full of mental smog and you’re out in the clear, fresh air again and you can actually think that much more clearly.

Oh, if only I wasn’t the editor of the H&D, and if I didn’t have to do what comes with the job, I’d like to join my Devon comrade in his world – well maybe for a few hours anyway!

The social-media nationalist crowd don’t seem to understand that someday – maybe pretty soon with the way things are going (i.e. with Covid 19) – we are going to lose the internet. Boris and his Indian friends will just turn it off, and there’s little or nothing we can do about it. When that happens, since we lack the courage to physically oppose them, we will have to take the old photocopy machines out of the garage, dust them off, and rush downtown to stock up on paper, ink, envelopes and stamps again.

I remember speaking to a group of youngsters from National Action after a JTMM and telling them this was going to happen, sooner rather than later, and the sheer look of horror in their faces said it all. I explained to them, that I was not sure at the time how this would happen, but one of these days we are no longer going to have access to the internet.

It may come via some diktat from Downing Street or Thames House, that just begins with the arrests and jailing of bloggers and social-media posters for simple dissent (as recently happened in Australia), or because the balloon will at least partially go up and internet service will go down, or be interrupted by civil disorder, economic collapse or cyber-attack.

Hard-copy publications like H&D where our people are actually required to sit down and read a block of text for content, which few people born after 1980 and almost no one born after 2000 or so can do, are also still necessary because actual literacy, as opposed to looking at images on an electric screen, is a vital skill that White people must re-acquire and preserve in the dark days to come.

That is why hard-copy publications like H&D, must keep going, for as long as possible. But can we keep going as a hard-copy magazine – perhaps for another twenty years? Well the odds are against us, but who knows what the future may bring?

Back in 2012, I wrote in my editorial for issue 50, that we should not forget the publishers of the first Heritage & Destiny magazine – Richard Lawson and Steve Brady – who way back in 1980 launched the first issue of H&D mark I. For without them we would not have had the inspiration to start up H&D mark II. Sadly, they only published six issues, but their articles were of the highest quality. They were men ahead of their time. We follow in their footsteps and keep the torch of nationalism burning.

Footnote: All back issues of H&D are still available for £4.00 each or any six issues for £20.00 (including p&p – UK only – for overseas rates please ask) although be warned we have fewer than ten copies of many of the early issues left now.