Move along. Nothing to see here?

You can't say this last week has been an uneventful one if you're following the News of the World hacking story. FBI investigations, NI's bid for BSkyB dropped, judge-led enquiries launched, unimpressive performances by senior police officers at the House of Commons*, the Murdochs refusing to appear in front of a select committee and then being summonsed, police advisors who used to work for News of the World being arrested, Rebekah Brooks quitting. It's all go.

What's the point?

Slim pickings around these parts recently, for which I apologise.

A few things contributing, but one of the main ones is the demoralising spectacle of the News of the World phone hacking scandal diminishing back into obscurity, looking less and less likely to actually go anywhere as time goes by. The ludicrousness of trusting the police to investigate a case in which they themselves have been accused of previously pursuing without due vigour has been exposed with witnesses threatened with being treated like suspects, thus successfully discouraging anyone from coming forward. Job done. 

What would the Met get in return for not looking hard at News of the World phone hacking?

You might not have noticed because most of the British press seems curiously reluctant to cover it, but earlier in the week, the New York Times produced some new evidence that the Conservative party's chief spin doctor Andy Coulson knew much more about the phone hacking scandal of 2006 than he was letting on. Maybe they were too busy covering allegations regarding William Hague's sexuality, and his emotional revelations about not being gay that came out at the same time, handily and totally coincidentally for the Conservatives' spin doctor. Ahem.