Today saw the prelimary hearing of the libel case brought by the British Chiropractic Association against science writer Simon Singh. I wrote about the background to this case earlier. The verdict of the judge in this hearing was something of a shock, and the consequences of it could be severe, not just for Singh but for the entire British skeptic community. Apparently now you don't actually have to make a claim to face accusations of libel, nor does the claim even need to logically follow from your arguments. And the nature of this case is such that if the same principles were to be applied consistently, every skeptical British blogger would end up in the courts.