<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Never Miss A&nbsp;Euphemism]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[
<p>For years, the British satirical magazine, Private Eye, had a code word for sexual shenanigans among leading politicians. It was called &quot;discussing Ugandan relations,&quot; or variations thereon. <img alt="800px-Pennsylvania_-_Delaware_Water_Gap_-_Appalachian_Trail_-_White_Blaze" class="at-xid-6a00d83451c45669e20115706452f5970c " src="https://sullydish.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/6a00d83451c45669e20115706452f5970c-320wi.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; width: 385px; height: 258px;" /> usually while carrying out a supposedly official duty. The term originally refers to an incident at a party hosted by journalist Neal Ascherson and his first wife, at which fellow journalist Mary Kenny had a &quot;meaningful confrontation&quot; with a former cabinet minister in the government of Milton Obote, later alleging that they were &quot;upstairs discussing Uganda&quot;. The poet James Fenton apparently coined the term. The saying is often wrongly attributed to the antics of a female Cabinet minister in Idi Amin&#39;s government, who was caught having sex in a public lavatory at Heathrow Airport. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think we should start using &quot;hiking the Appalachian trail&quot; for discussions of future political <em>scandale</em>, don&#39;t you? Instructions have been sent to all Dish staff on this matter. (Update: a reader notes <a href="http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=23012">Doug J</a> and <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/if_nothing_else_weve_learned.php?ref=fpblg">Josh Marshall</a> beat me to it).</p>
]]></html><thumbnail_url><![CDATA[https://sullydish.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/6a00d83451c45669e20115706452f5970c-320wi.jpg?fit=440%2C330]]></thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width><![CDATA[320]]></thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height><![CDATA[214]]></thumbnail_height></oembed>