Ann's audiovisual address ends with her projecting on to the screen behind her a series of extremely blurry photographs. From time to time, she says, Jason is summoned to the spaceship for some psychic brush-up training. When this happens, Ann tries to photograph the UFOs. But she has only a disposable camera and so the pictures always come out fuzzy and inconclusive.

It's time for the Q&A. Unexpectedly, Robbie's friend Brandon stands up and walks to the front. Brandon is a record producer and co-wrote some of the songs on Robbie's last album, Rudebox.

"I just wanted to ask, why don't you buy a better camera?" he says. A slight gasp reverberates around the hall. People don't usually ask cynical questions at UFO conferences. read more at music.guardian.co.uk