We have to admit that we thought this amusing:

For the French capital and the rest of the country, it was a case of “back to abnormal” as thousands of shops, businesses and schools re-opened after two months of lockdown; but things were not quite as they once were.

Paris transport authorities had insisted social distancing would be respected but outages overnight leading to a 40-minute delay made a mockery of stickers on the floor supposed to keep passengers safely apart.

“It’s a catastrophe,” said one commuter. “The trains are totally packed without respecting the measures our leaders decreed. I should have known it.”

How nicely that plays to every English prejudice about the French, excitable Latins who won’t do what they’re told etc.

Except, of course, it’s not actually about the French at all, nor even Latins, excitable or not. It’s about people. For one of those great truths about us human beings is that we’ll do what seems best to us at the time and in the circumstances. What we’ve been told to do comes rather a distant second to this self-calculation of our own interests.

This always coming as a surprise to those who would plan society, people just don’t do as they’re told. Or, more accurately, the telling will only succeed when what is forced upon people is what they already agree is concordant with that self-calculation of own interest.

The implication of this should be obvious. It’s not possible to produce that planned society in any detail. It is possible to set fairly broad outlines - don’t murder and if we do we’ll get you - but anything at the level of don’t put paper in with the plastics recycling is doomed to failure. Therefore, if we want a set of rules that work - in the sense of their being obeyed and thus reaching the desired outcome - we can only have rules that everyone largely agrees with already.

Sure we can have the planned society, the rigid rules for the economy. Only not very many of them and only reinforcing what everyone does already.