"I've probably met (yes, actually met and got to know) dozens more of these women than most posters on this thread."

Eliza I don't doubt that is so, I might match you on a purely numberwise basis purely because I grew up on an estate and still have family in such environs. But to be quite frank, I never went out of my way to bother myself with those who took the benefit-mum route, because I wanted OUT of that whole 'underclass' scene into which I was initially born. The result hasn't been as expansive as I wished for (life got in the way) but it is decidedly better than half a dozen babies on some grotty estate!

LLass