WHY THE LONG FACE? Just when you thought the News Corp. phone hacking story couldn't get any stranger, it came out Tuesday that Scotland Yard loaned a horse to former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks. Raisa, a 22-year-old retired police horse, went to live with Brooks post-retirement. "Scotland Yard," writes John F. Burns, "issued a statement on Tuesday describing the horse loan as routine."

>> Now that a day has passed, British papers not owned by Rupert Murdoch are not giving up on the story of a powerful editor borrowing a horse from a police force her paper covers. The Telegraph quotes a police spokesperson: "When the horse was returned Raisa was regarded by officers from Mounted Branch to be in a poor but not serious condition." The Independent explains how the horse came to be transferred from "a retirement paddock in Norfolk" to Brooks' farm in Chipping Norton, where, a propos of nothing but at this point you never know, Brooks is neighbors with "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson.

>> Murdoch, on Twitter: "Now they are complaining about R Brooks saving an old horse from the glue factory!" Yep, Twitter had fun with that one. (more...)