One lesson that I think is worth learning from all this is how well the general public have accepted extreme & burdensome restrictions on their everyday lives, justified by everyone else's good as much as by their own, with minimal need for coercive enforcement

The restrictions are perhaps _less_ burdensome if you have a large & well-appointed house, & a garden, & no immediate money worries, & your family there to talk to; but they're burdensome even then, & for a lot of people they are _very_ burdensome

We often hear about how fragmented & individualistic British society is, & there's an element of truth to that; but look outside your front door & you will see empty streets

And I simply do not believe that any significant number of people are following the lockdown because they're scared of a fine. Aside from anything else, we were all locking down already before the fines came into effect

They're doing it bc they don't want to get the disease; & they don't want to spread it to other people; & they can see everyone else pitching in, so they don't want to be the only one who isn't

So, when people tell you that serious social change or climate action or whatever is impossible bc people will not make the sacrifices that might be involved, remind them of this

Of course none of that really applies to employers & landlords, many of whom have found it difficult or impossible to put any other consideration above maximizing profit; fortunately, there is no law of nature that says their property can't just be taken away from them

But almost everyone else's response to the lockdown has been exemplary. We should think about whether we haven't been giving people way way too little credit: seems we need to be much more ambitious abt what collective effort, backed by persuasion & not coercion, can do