At Lord's, the ground would have been lower, due to the slope. That would have made the difference.

Well, incomes are often volatile. Or if you're on low income and inherit 15k, keeping it in cash is less obviously wild than a stockbroker with 100k in cash

Sounds like a lot but might only be 10-15k for many

Are they identical?

It can take a surprising amount of people to get one of them to change though, depending on the shared group identity of the people involved.

Is it Gregg's outlets?

I think it's driving an intensification of work, a substitution away from non-pecuniary benefits and making the experience of low paid employment generally more homogeneous.

I don't think we can ignore the role of the minimum wage in this (it's not the whole story, as you say the trend is longer). But once there was found to be minimal unemployment impact, it has been treated like a free lunch policy and links to wider labour market trends brushed aside.

Ok yes the triple lock remains a political decision rather than a contractual feature.

Ok yes. The premium I suggested was partly because of the tail risk. But if there is some political wriggle room then that seems reasonable.