no, it's not a statement of fact. It's an assumption. The father or fathers of the kids could be paying maintenance, in which case that is offset against any state benefits they receive from the taxpayer. There could be a trust fund or an inheritance paying out a certain amount each month. The woman could, although it's unlikely, be a lottery winner, living in rented accomodation while she waits for the purchase of her new mansion to go through. We *don't know*. Whereas RandomKitten's statement has assumed that the woman and her children are living entirely off state benefits. Furthermore, Randomkitten also stated that the woman was "obviously not concerned with the fact that children are expensive". This is the bit that is most judgmental, the way I read it. The woman may have been in completely different circumstances when she was getting pregnant. The only "facts" we can extrapolate from what Reynolds has told us is that she is *currently* a single 36 year old woman with eight kids who has just moved to the area and is living in a rented house. We can't guess why she has that many kids, or why she moved house, or what's happened to the children's father or fathers, or by what means the family is supported. We certainly can't declare our guesses to be statements of fact.