Pickled Politics is coming to an end
I think I’m merely stating what has become obvious now.
For the last few months, I’ve been working on my new project - Rippla - and my blogging energy went into writing for Liberal Conspiracy or editing it (which takes up a lot of time too). Rumbold has a new job that makes it difficult for him to find the time too. Only Jai has had the time to blog properly.
We wanted to host a new conversation on race, religion and identity politics in general. We gave voices to people who felt a certain way, annoyed people, entertained them and pushed an agenda that slowly made its way into the national conversation. I made lots of mistakes, lots of friends and learnt about politics faster than any other way possible.
If you don’t have regrets then you didn’t make much impact. But more than the badly titled posts or the flame-wars or the arguments - I had lots of fun blogging and creating mischief.
But everything has to come to an end. We started September 2005 - racking up over 14,000 posts over six and a half years. We thank the bazillions of wonderful visitors and commentators (including the mad ones) for making this place interesting and occasionally informative.
You can catch me on Twitter or on Liberal Conspiracy. I’ll sign off with the photo I think best encapsulated Pickled Politics.
ALSO: I apologise to all the people who’s emails I didn’t reply to. There were too many 
Rumbold adds: I would like to say thank you as well to everyone who made this such an enjoyable place. I made a lot of friends here, and had so many interesting debates.
It also exposed me to issues I would never have given much thought to. Things like far-right groups and ‘honour’-based violence aren’t going to stop just because we have (sadly), but I hope we at least raised awareness and understanding of the latter and maybe contributed to some positive changes, whilst giving the former a (metaphorical) black eye.
We won’t completely vanish however. Elton John is going to update ‘Candle in the Wind’ for us (“Goodbye Hounslow’s Rose”) and Sunny will be appearing in the next series of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
Jai adds: I would like to add my heartfelt thanks to PP’s readers, the editorial team, and everyone who has made a positive contribution to the comments threads. We’ve jointly managed to do a lot of good work here, and your kind support, involvement and feedback has always been invaluable.
Many commenters and writers have passed through this website’s doors since 2005, and some long-term regulars are still with us. It’s fascinating how the articles and discussions have evolved over the years, especially in response to major real-world events. For my part, I’ve learnt a great deal as a result of my participation on Pickled Politics. It’s been quite a ride; we’ve had days of high drama, times of fierce debate, and moments of tremendous warmth and humour.
To those of you who don’t want the story to end: The logical decision would be to collectively relocate to Liberal Conspiracy.
Good luck for the future, everyone. It’s been an honour.
