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This article contributes to the rethinking of failure within the neoliberal university, particularly in relation to ethnography. It is grounded in the ethnographic setting of a boxing club and focuses on one unusual dynamic of which I was aware during the research, but for which I could not – and still cannot – account for in theoretical terms. One or more members of the boxing club recurrently stole the toilet roll, and I have no idea why. This, however, also reflects a broader trend within the ethnographic genre: whilst toilets are used for cover by researchers, they are a space where the ethnographer's gaze fails. In turn, this reflects the social construction of defecation as moral failure. Similarly, failure - whilst routine - is individualised within the neoliberal academy. Accounting for dead ends and unknowns within research thereby becomes risky, and this actively discourages recognition of the complexities of life within ethnography. Writing ethnography which actively incorporates failures and unknowns would promote vitalism and would resist a neoliberal articulation of success.

ObjectivesWe describe neuropsychological test performance (NP) in antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naïve HIV-positive individuals with CD4 cell counts above 500 cells/μL.MethodsIn a neurology substudy of the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT) Strategic Timing of AntiRetroviral Treatment (START) study, eight neurocognitive tests were administered. The primary measure of NP was the quantitative NP z-score (QNPZ-8), the average of the z-scores for the eight tests. Associations of baseline factors with QNPZ-8 scores were assessed by multiple regression. Mild neurocognitive impairment (NCI) was defined as z-scores 500 cells/μL. Demographic factors and diabetes were most strongly associated with NP. Unmeasured educational/sociocultural factors may explain geographical differences. Poorer NP was independently associated with longer time since HIV diagnosis, suggesting that untreated HIV infection might deleteriously affect NP, but the effect was small.