It's been an interesting few months in the world of the celebrity psychic here in the UK, with the country's most profitable spirit-chatterer–"Psychic Sally" Morgan–rarely out of the news.

Whether it's been the allegations arising from an apparently disastrous show in Dublin, the challenge issued to her by members of this very parish (along with last year's speakers Simon Singh and Chris French), or the subsequent legal proceedings Sally has filed against the Daily Mail, it's certainly been uncomfortably lively for the entertainer and tabloid agony aunt.

It's the latest development in the saga–Sally's legal case against the Daily Mail–which is of particular interest to us here at QED, because the author of the article which has prodded Sally's legal team into action is none other than magician Paul Zenon. Paul will, of course, be bringing his magic and comedy show to Saturday night's entertainment at QED, but when we heard about the libel action we thought: here is an opportunity too good to miss. With that in mind, we're delighted to tell you that Paul will be taking a look at the current crop of 'psychic' 'stars' working the circuit, and will draw on his own experiences in magic (as well as his somewhat shorter stint as a fake psychic) to take us through what tricks a psychic-fraudster-in-waiting could use to become the next big thing in the world of mediumship.

QED are especially proud that Maryam has agreed to join us for the weekend. Having researched her background for this blog it's only possible to conclude that she mustn't ever sleep. She is a tireless campaigner for human rights and a standard bearer for secularism. The issues of importance to Maryam should be those close to the heart of any skeptic who cares about the world. For those who think religion is a benign force for good, or think its adherents hold a few dotty but harmless beliefs, a cursory glance at Maryam's campaigns will very quickly disabuse them of the notion that faith is all about warm notions such as love and compassion. Hitchens said that religion poisons everything, Maryam Namazie is meticulously and angrily cataloguing those poisons and if she can't cure them she's sure as hell going to warn everyone about them. And she will not be silenced.

Volunteers were a vital part of our last event, and our lovely team of wonderful, attractive and brilliant volunteers were a real factor in the overall success of the weekend. Which is why we're looking to assemble a crack squad of helpers this year too - and with less than a month to go, we need your help!

Bigfoot. The Loch Ness Monster. Werewolves. Vampires (the non-sparkling kind). Leopards and panthers on the prowl in rural Hampshire. We've all heard tales of the weird and mysterious creature, appearing somewhere it shouldn't be, doing something impossible, and then buggering off again leaving barely a trace.

We know that you are all excited by the great speakers attending QED. You will also be doubtless looking forward to the great entertainment we will be putting on for you on the Saturday evening. Obviously you'll be eagerly awaiting the results of the Skeptic Magazine Awards which will be kicking off the festivities and you may be wondering who the Skeptic Mag will sending to present the gongs. Well wonder no longer!

Students and practitioners of physical sciences, exploring the white hot edge of particle physics in the search for the Higgs boson, are sometimes given to believe that physics is the most fundamental of the sciences. After all, in a strictly reductionist view, biology is simply epiphenomena of biochemistry, and biochemistry, like all chemistry, is simply epiphenomena caused by the physics of the outer electron shell. But a wise teacher of mine once pointed out that in the end we may find that biology is more fundamental than any of the sciences.

We are delighted to announce that QED 2012 will host a special live recording of the InKredulous podcast. This will take place in the break out room where last year people were spilling into the corridor to hear from our panelists during the live recording.

InKredulous is hosted by our very own Andy Wilson (@InKredulosi) and will feature panelists from the cracking QED 2012 line up.

QED is a great place to meet new people. Whether you're coming alone or with a few friends, you're bound to leave with a few friends more. And there is no better opportunity for that than our Mixer event on Friday night.

Massimo Pollidoro has a special place in European Skepticism. He remains, as far as one can tell, the only full time mystery investigator in the whole of Europe.

We've been busy putting the finishing touches to our line up for QED in 2012 and have a few more exciting announcements to make. Last year's attendees will remember that the main stage wasn't the only place in QED you could be enthralled, entertained and educated. Our second track in the Breakout Room was incredibly popular, featuring live podcast recordings, video screenings and bonus content from some of our main stage speakers.

Introducing Joe Nickell is a somewhat tricky and troublesome affair. With over four decades of skeptical investigation, research, writing and adventuring, where can we possibly start?

Perhaps the introduction should be a formal one? After all, Joe has been a Fellow of CSICOP and CSI since 1988, and for far longer has been one of the most recognised and widely-respected names in global skepticism. His investigations have taken him across the world, and he's travelled just as far in recounting tales of such exploits in removing the veil of mysticism from some of the most famous myths of our age.

With QED fast approaching your thoughts may be turning to making the most of your trip. The opportunities for networking and activism are as legendary as is possible, considering the event has run only once! But beyond speaking to each attendee individually you might want to save some time by promoting your message through the various means available at QED, directly to your fellow attendees. Or even worse, if you cannot attend personally, let us do some of the work for you.

There are four ways you can share your message with the attendees at QED 2012. Brochure ads, Sponsorship, Attendee Packs and Stalls.

Edzard Ernst is perhaps best known to skeptics for his 2008 book Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine On Trial, co-authored with past QED speaker Simon Singh. Formerly the Director of the Complementary Medicine Research Group at the University of Exeter, Ernst's work in the field of complementary and alternative medicine (a phrase he argues is nonsensical) earned him a reputation as the "scourge of alternative medicine".

Rationalists aren't mean to celebrate Christmas.

We know it is a pagan celebration of the winter solstice, commandeered by Christians to act as the birthday for their Messiah. We know that, if there was a Jesus, it was four centuries after his birth before anyone decided to celebrate it on December 25. We know that old men don't struggle down chimneys and reindeer are about as likely as pigs to fly.

But you know what - forget all that.

Because Christmas isn't really about Jesus, fat men in red suits, mistletoe or flying caribou. It's the time of year when we get to spend time with the people who are important to us. Our families and our friends; the people we love. Who cares about the reason for the season? It's our Christmas -- and it's about what we want it to be about.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year from the QED team. We'll see you in 2012.

There's no question that Sarah Angliss' work is intriguing. The venn diagram is science and music. If you're in the overlap that's the sweet spot. But I suspect that all of our attendees will be quickly heading for the front of the room when she appears.

From the last QED event, Professor Christopher French and investigators Hayley Stevens and Trystan Swale talk about ghost hunting in the 21st Century.

The QED team are delighted to hear that nominations are pouring in for the Skeptic magazine's Skeptic Awards, which will be hosted at QED 2012.

We hope everyone appreciates that organising this event is a labour of love on our part. The event in 2011 was an absolute blast and if 2012 is as good or better, our work will be done. However, as we are working with Skeptic magazine on this project, we don't feel that it is appropriate for us to be selected as a winner in the Event category. Therefore we urge everyone who has nominated us to think again and vote for another fabulous and deserving entry.

Next year, the History Channel promises to bring ex-Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder to our TV screens as he investigates the UFO phenomenon. Ryder, a Salford lad, claims that the area is host to a wormhole through which alien visitors can presumably emerge.

We are delighted to announce that we will be hosting the first ever Skeptic Awards ceremony organised by our friends over at The Skeptic magazine. The ceremony will form part of our Saturday night entertainment at QED next March. We're hoping to be able to surprise you with some special guests. There will be envelopes. There will be prizes. We can promise that there will be no long Oscar style acceptance speeches and we are fairly confident that whoever wins may well thank their family and fans but they won't be thanking God!

Always on the lookout to make your QED experience more enjoyable, the team here at QED HQ are delighted to confirm that, for the second year running, there will be a live recording of the superb 'Pod Delusion' radio programme and podcast!

QED's Geoff Whelan caught up with author Ophelia Benson to talk about atheism, new atheism and, of course, QED.

The 'mission statement' of Butterflies and Wheels is 'fighting fashionable nonsense'. How wide is that fight? Who or what is the enemy? And how goes the war?

"Actually I've dropped that as a subtitle now, and re-written the 'About' page. The subtitle came from the title of a book by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont - Fashionable Nonsense; in French it was Impostures intellectuelles, which is really a good deal more elegant. Butterflies and Wheels was very focused on certain kinds of trendy academic fashions when it started, in 2002, but I've shifted direction since then. The core subject is still intellectual impostures, but there are many varieties of those, so the fight is very wide. (I don't really like claiming to fight them though - it sounds so grandiose - which is one reason I dropped the subtitle.)

"Still, having said all that, I think the core is the same, which is an abiding interest in credulity - in various ways people allow themselves to believe things when an impartial observer might expect them to know better."

The links between magic and skepticism run curiously deep, with many of history's greatest conjurers placing themselves firmly in the skeptic camp - not least the most famous magician of all, Harry Houdini.

Saturday night's Gala Dinner was one of our most popular attractions for 2011. QED attendees ate a delicious three-course meal in the company of our guest speakers, with profits going to good causes. Even so, the enthusastic response to the dinner for 2012 took us completely by surprise - with tickets selling out in just under three days.

QED is delighted to announce that joining our contingent of overseas speakers is D.J. Grothe, President of the James Randi Educational Foundation.

Scouring the globe for skeptical activity, it's not long before one's eyes are drawn down-under, and the fantastic and vibrant antipodean skeptical community in Australia - headed up in part by QED speaker and vice president of the Australian Skeptics, Richard Saunders.  Having been involved in the skeptical movement for over a decade, Richard has become one of the key skeptical voices in the Australian media, with regular radio appearances under his belt and a recurring role on psychic 'talent' show The One - Australia's televised quest to uncover the country's least worst psychic claimant.

One of our goals for QED was to make the event accessible to as many people as possible. That included working to keep the ticket price as low as possible; offering discounts for students; ensuring the event is fully wheelchair accessible; and providing induction loops in the main hall for the hard-of-hearing.

We have also been investigating how we might provide a creche facility at QED for 2012. We see this as helping make the event accessible to two specific groups.

QED is not about making money, it's about putting on an event for the community of rational thinking people to enjoy, and if we make some money for worthy charities along the way, so much the better. So we were pleased to have been able to give a reasonable donation to the National Autistic Society and Sense About Science with the proceeds from QED 2011.

Things are gathering pace here at QED HQ - with tickets selling rather nicely and a palpable sense of anticipation amongst those already coming, we're feeling a real momentum build. That said, when we announced our first round of speakers we promised you more names would be added soon... and we're not ones to go back on a promise. So, with that in mind, we're pleased to announce three more excellent speakers to add to the QED bill for 2012:

The QED Team is delighted to announce that the comedian Robin Ince, co-host of Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage, will be appearing as part of QED's Saturday night line-up.

Robin is a familiar face on the live comedy circuit, and has recently been touring with Brian Cox, Ben Goldacre and former QED speaker Simon Singh as the Uncaged Monkeys. Robin is also the organiser of Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, and has appeared on the BBC's Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You and Channel 4's 8 out of 10 Cats.

His material mixes an acerbic wit and comic fury with a genuine enthusiasm for science, and often features readings from leading science popularisers, like Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman.

Saturday Night at QED will take place after the Gala Dinner and is free to all QED ticket-holders; you do not need a separate ticket to attend. Further performers appearing on Saturday night have yet to be announced.

Tickets for the second QED (Manchester, 10-11 March 2012) have been on sale for only four days, and already the demand has both pleased and surprised everyone at QED HQ. It's hugely encouraging that everyone seems to be as excited about the follow-up event as we are - it certainly lets us know that we're doing things right!

In light of the number of people who were hot off the mark when tickets went on sale, we'd like to inform you that seats at our Gala Dinner on the Saturday Evening have now sold out - to all those who have tickets, well done on being early birds! But to those who missed out, don't despair: there are lots of great places to eat near to the hotel, and there's even a guerilla 'Rebel Dinner' which has been organised by attendees who didn't get tickets to the Gala Dinner, so we're sure you won't be at a loss for options.

With the next 'QED: Question. Explore. Discover.' taking place in March 2012, the QED team are pleased to reveal eight of the speakers lined up to feature on the bill for our second ever weekend celebration of science and critical thinking, hosted once more in The Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester on March 10th-11th, 2012. The exciting program of speakers will include:

The QED team are delighted to announce that tickets for the 2012 event go on sale at 10.23am, Monday 29th August 2011. Given the hugely positive feedback we've had already we're anticipating demand to be high, so be sure to book early to avoid disappointment!

To offer even greater value for money this year, we have squeezed our suppliers until the pips squeak and have reduced the ticket price for 2012. A full-priced ticket for next year will be just £89, with student tickets a bargain at just £68 - that's for a whole weekend of science and skeptical fun in the comfortable surroundings of the Ramada Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester, 10th-11th March 2012. Plus, as bonus for early-birds, be amongst the first to book your QED tickets and you'll receive a free QED 2011 T Shirt, while stocks last.

As with last year, there will be a gala dinner too (details to follow), plus there are a limited number of rooms at the venue which you can book at a special discount rate for attendees. A single room is £85 and a double is £95 - simply mention you're attending QED when you book with the hotel to get the special rate.

Be sure to look out for lots more exciting announcements about speakers coming soon!

Your QED Team.

In February 2011, the first QED conference saw nearly 350 people come together for a weekend celebration of science and critical thinking, in what became a highly successful and entertaining event. Today, the QED team are delighted to announce that as a result of the event, £5,262 was raised - to be split between the charities Sense About Science and The National Autistic Society.

A spokeman for the event said, "It makes us all tremendously proud and thrilled to be able to donate to two great charities. It's a testament to the popularity and success of the conference that so many people came and had a great time, and that we've been able to donate a respectable amount to two great causes is definitely the icing on the cake.

"We'd like to thank everyone who made the event the success it was - from the amazing roster of speakers who so kindly gave up their time to be a part of our event, to everybody who attended and made the weekend a success. From the overwhelmingly positive feedback we've had - and the many not-too-subtle demands to stage a follow-up event - it's clear that QED was a great weekend for all involved, and we're delighted to have been able to achieve this".

As well as announcing the sums donated to charity, the team have confirmed that the next QED conference will take place on the weekend of March 10th-11th, 2012. While details of speakers are yet to be confirmed, the event will take place once more in the Ramada Jarvis Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester, and will once again be organised by North West Skeptical Events Ltd, comprising of members of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and Greater Manchester Skeptics.

To stay up to date with the latest information on the next QED and to be first to hear when tickets go on sale, subscribe to updates from the event team.