Spike has apparently ceased publication. Good news for George, but disappointing for the rest of us.

UPDATE: Here is the story from Wednesday's SCMP

An errant investor has forced satirical magazine Spike to be, well, spiked. Publisher Stephen Vines confirmed yesterday that, following a key investor's failure to deliver promised capital, the publication was finished.

"We are having to close the magazine down and the issue that was published last Friday will be its last," Mr Vines said. "We have been in negotiations for the last two to three months with investors, and in the end we did manage to secure two new backers, one of which did what they said they would do."

The other, he said, did not honour two signed agreements.

"It would have been irresponsible to have carried on trading in that condition," Mr Vines said. "The idea was not to just continue putting the magazine out, but to do a proper marketing campaign that would have allowed it to become bigger and better."

Spike quickly gained a loyal fan base after its launch last November, but while its mix of comedy and current events was well received, its financial health had been under a cloud in recent months.

Staff were told last Friday that the funding deal had collapsed.