circular dependency between lsb-release and python3 (ubuntu 18.04)

I've managed to get into a situation where I have a circular dependency between lsb-release and python3. When I try to sudo apt install python3 --reinstall I get the following (just pasting the key lines) (Reading database ... 470097 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../python3_3.6.7-1~18.04_amd64.deb ... Could not find platform independent libraries Could not find platform dependent libraries Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to [:] Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings' [~] lsb_release Could not find platform independent libraries Could not find platform dependent libraries Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to [:] Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings' Current thread 0x00007fa905a81740 (most recent call first): Aborted (core dumped) Clearly my lsb_release is broken. But if I run sudo apt-get install lsb-release I get dpkg: error processing package python3 (--configure): package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lsb-release: lsb-release depends on python3:any (>= 3.4~); however: Package python3 is not configured yet. So I can't fix my python3 installation without fixing lsb-release, and vice versa.