In 2011 I presented at the Brighton Science Festival. A fellow presenter was Professor Klim McPherson – an esteemed epidemiologist. Professor McPherson was asked a question about the future of the UK National Health Service (NHS) and he answered that he thought Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) would ‘break’ the NHS by 2020. How prophetic his reply is proving to be. With three years to go, the NHS is currently showing signs of breaking point. T2D alone may not be responsible, but it could well be the avoidable burden that has just tipped the balance from manageable to unmanageable.