everything is a recession indicator

+ The UK’s first womb transplant baby has been born & Madonna and Elton John have ended their feud

My angels! To make sure SYSCA can stay independent (and I can keep paying rent), please consider supporting the media you love 𓆩♡𓆪

My babies!!! Abby and I spent all day yesterday working on a VERY EXCITING PITCH that I am not going to tell you about in case it doesn’t happen and I disappoint us all, but it’s with someone that I imagine you’ll all be GAGGED over (because it’s incredibly iconic.)

I also started reading Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, and Abby is LOVING Song Of Achilles (more book stuff below in Abby’s little book club section.)

I wish I had more to fill you in on but my life is incredibly chill at the moment, which to be clear, I am NOT mad about.

I love you!

News time xx

A Womb With a View (Of the Future)

Fuck it’s great to have a good news story to start this newsy with today: The UK’s first womb transplant baby has been born.

In February 2025, a baby girl named Amy was born in London. She’s the first child in the UK born to a mum with a donated womb.

Her mum, Grace Davidson, was born without a functioning uterus due to a rare condition called MRKH syndrome. But in 2023, Grace received a womb transplant from her sister Amy. Yes, her actual sister gave her actual womb to help her carry a child. And now - two years, 30 surgeons, and one long pandemic delay later - baby Amy is here. Named after the aunt who made her possible (why am I tearing up.)

Oh—and if that wasn’t enough: baby Amy’s middle name is Isabel, after the lead surgeon on the transplant team.

Grace described holding her daughter for the first time as “incredible” and “surreal.” She and her husband Angus had spent so long protecting themselves from imagining this moment that when it came, it hit like a dream finally allowed to be real. “It was really wonderful,” she said.

She got her first period two weeks after the transplant. Got pregnant on the first round of IVF. Felt her baby kick. And gave birth to Amy - tiny and perfect - on the 27th of February.

The womb, which Grace still has, will eventually be removed after a second planned pregnancy. This is because she currently has to take daily immunosuppressants to stop her body from rejecting it (which carry their own risks over time). So this is a temporary organ. But its impact? Lifelong.

More womb transplants are already happening in the UK, including from deceased donors. But this one? This first one? It’s personal and it’s a love story between sisters. Between science and hope. Between body and possibility. I LOVE IT SM.

More on this story here!!

Flash mobs coming back is a recession indicator

And apparently so is everything else.

If you’ve been online lately then you’ve likely seen the “ ___ is a recession indicator memes. The memes are basically a way for people to joke about funny and deeply personal signs that the economy might be headed for a downturn.

The reason I’m talking about this now is because a flash mob for Doechii’s song ‘Anxiety’ happened in LA and everything I saw about it was that it was most definitely a recession indicator.

So is Ed Sheeran becoming ‘cool’ apparently:

And afterpay for delivery food (okay this one kinda is):

And if you believe this really woke Instagram account, so is… being skinny?

impact

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This section is written by

☆ book club abby ☆

, SYSCAs designer and leader of the cutest book club on the internet!!! Each week she pops in here to let you know what we’re up to, and to remind you to become a paying subscriber to join the book club xx

Hi bookies!!

This week in the Shit You Should Read About Book Club, it has been all about dissecting our April book club pick, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. This book has had so much traction on booktok, and is so different to anything our book club has read previously so there are some deep reviews coming out of it (srsly love our intelligent bookies and their thoughts).

Luce and I finished it early this month, so we’ve moved on to getting through our long TBR lists - as Luce mentioned before she demolished Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley and is now onto Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors and I’ve just started The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (and oh my god I’m not even halfway through and it is looking like it’ll be a 5 star read!!!!!).

We now need to start planning a poll to post in our Fable book club for what book we should read in May… any suggestions??? Become a paying subscriber to get access to join us in the cutest book club on the internet to take part!!

Abby xxx

Like a Prayer (for Reconciliation): Madonna and Elton John have ended their feud

Madonna and Elton John have finally buried the decades-long hatchet they’ve been swinging at each other since the early 2000s, and it happened at Saturday Night Live, of all places.

A feud?

Yup, their feud’s been bubbling since 2004, when Elton slammed Madonna’s live performances, suggesting she was lip-syncing her way through concerts. (“Since when has lip-syncing been live?” he asked. “Anyone who does it should be shot.” Yikes.) Madonna’s team denied it. Elton kept doubling down. She beat him to a Golden Globe. The beef lived on.

But now? It’s done. According to Madonna’s Instagram, she went to “confront” Elton after his performance (with Brandi Carlile—iconic), and the first thing he said was “Forgive me.” “The wall between us fell down,” she wrote. Madonna said Elton’s music changed her life as a teen, and that his public criticism hurt more than she let on. “I didn’t understand it,” she said. Elton commented on her post, thanking her for forgiving “my big mouth” and praising her for paving the way for an entire generation of women to succeed on their own terms.

Love this for them, and also let me flex once again that Madonna follows SYSCA.

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