Emmanuel Macron put on his humble hat in his third television address to the nation last night. For a man whose default mode is technocratic arrogance that must have been difficult.

In a sober speech described by one editorialist as “cuddle-therapy”, the president said that lockdown should be relaxed, though not completely wound up, on 11 May.

He paid tribute to key workers, many of whom are the sort of people he has previously dismissed as not having “succeeded” in life, called for humility all round, admitted “we” were not sufficiently prepared for the crisis, and pointed out that the virus is increasing inequality.

“We must be able to depart from the beaten path, from ideologies, reinvent ourselves,” he said, adding. “And me first of all.”

That would be very welcome. But it is pretty vague. Macron, like all other world leaders, has been obliged to renounce his worship of the free market during the crisis. Will he return to capitalist form once it shows signs of easing off?

Will society become more egalitarian?

Will those workers who have proved they are indispensable be paid what they’re worth or will they just have to be satisfied with applause at 8.00pm?

Macron raised the “possibility of planning carbon sobriety”. This crisis is an opportunity to avert even greater devastation by kicking the carbon habit. But will governments resist the temptation to go for growth by any means possible once workers are back at their posts?

The phased ending of the lockdown, which Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has already said is a target not a certainty, seems above all aimed at getting more people back to work, an understandable but risky strategy.

And there was one case of economy with the truth in the president’s address. Macron said that testing the whole population “would make no sense”.

Given that many infected people show no symptoms, that’s patently untrue. Widespread testing has been a key measure in those countries that have been most successful in containing the virus.

This is a repetition of the government’s disinformation about wearing masks. If there aren’t enough, just tell us. Don’t make out it wouldn’t be a good thing to test far more people than is currently planned.

France’s Covid-19 death toll now stands at 15,167, up 574 in the last 24 hours. 32,113 people are in hospital, 287 admitted yesterday. 6,281 patients are in intensive care, down 24. 27,718 have been discharged from hospital, 532 of them yesterday.