When I tweet about UK Covid-19 policies I often get responses about enforcement and people not abiding by the rules, which I think is missing the point a bit - it's becoming not unlike tax avoidance in a country with a lot of fiscal corruption and low state capacity.

Would it be better if everyone paid tax there? Maybe. But doing it on an individual level, when you have no meaningful reason to think it will improve the situation for you, your family, even your city or country, just makes you not unreasonably feel like a bit of a mug.

Looking at a collective action problem and saying "damn, why can't everyone just coordinate all of their individual interests for this social good" without primarily focusing on the state's failings is almost totally pointless.

Basically people seem to think the gap between polling which suggests strong support for strict public health measures, and more lax general behaviour is a gotcha, when it's more of an illustration of government failure than proof of hypocrisy.