We already know that the News of the World hacked the phones of virtually everyone in England, including dead people and the prime minister and, probably, you. But with the latest revelation, the scandal has actually folded in on itself. Is the NOTW scandal the singularity?

Because, you see, today we learn that the rat-infested rag hacked the phones of Scotland Yard investigators who were investigating the paper for illegal phone hacking. "Always double down on your own scandals," is the motto emblazoned on News Corp's stationery. The NYT reports that not only was NOTW paying crooked cops for information; but they were also hacking into the phones of at least five police investigators who dared to probe the paper's practices in 2006.

The disclosure, based on interviews with current and former officials, raises the question of whether senior investigators feared that if they aggressively investigated, The News of the World would punish them with splashy articles about their private lives. Some of their secrets, tabloid-ready, eventually emerged in other news outlets.

Those damaging allegations, about two of the senior officers' private lives, involved charges that one had padded his expense reports and was involved in extramarital affairs and that the other used frequent flier miles accrued on the job for personal vacations.

Now, the British government is holding hearings on whether Scotland Yard limited that initial investigation of the phone hacking charges due to fear that they (Scotland Yard) could be personally smeared in the tabloids. Private eyes hired by News International are currently busy hacking into the phones of everyone involved in those government hearings. Kidding!

We are not to be held responsible if commenting on this post gets your phone hacked. Ha, kidding! Still, this constitutes a legal disclaimer.

[NYT; photo via AP]