Emmanuel Macron has performed a humiliating U-turn and agreed to suspend his pension reform in order to avoid another collapsed government - his surrender will ultimately harm France, says John Lichfield. A French economist won a share of the Nobel Prize this week for his work on creative destruction. The country has chosen another path - destructive immobilism. In 2023 Macron won a pensions victory on behalf of the French people but against the will of the French people.