On 31 October 2008 the James Martin Institute Policy Foresight Programme together with the British Government's Foresight Programme (within the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills) held a one day symposium on Obesity: Origins, Policies and Implications for the Future, inspired by the publication of the Government's Foresight report Tackling Obesities: Future Choices published in October 2007. Sir Crispin Tickell chaired the event. Participants came from a wide spectrum: government, policy advisers, academics, the food industry, non government organizations and civil society generally. All recognized the scale of the obesity problem, the need to see it in the broadest context, and its significance for the good health of modern society as a whole.