I was enjoying the Christmas television yesterday when the news came on the TV. It showed thousands of people rushing into Selfridges on Oxford Street to get the very best sales items they could. Then came the grim news that despite all this it wouldn't be enough to save the economy...according to some economics forecasting house.

This economics forecasting house had released their revised forecasts to coincide with Christmas and the boxing day sales. They were some of the most bearish forecasts around, helping to paint a very bleak and miserable picture at this happy time of year.

What amazes me is how easily these economic forecasting houses abuse the media so freely. This was clearly a bad news story timed for release to coincide over Christmas when a) there is little other news and b) people are thinking about shopping and retail performance.

Worst of all these forecasts are likely to be no better than what the average man on the street could come up with. In these times of uncertainty these economic forecasting houses have so little idea about where the economy is going that any forecasts made beyond next week are pointless.

The independent forecasters tend to have teams of about 10 people. Many of them will be newly out of university and not working specifically on macroeconomics. Most of the forecasts will have been dreamt up to be both headline grabbing but also near enough to the general consensus of the time. As a result we get these slow creep as forecasts are constantly revised each week.

Don't get me wrong forecasting is very difficult at the moment but when these forecasting houses use the media so brazenly to build up their brand they are playing with the economic sentiment in a dangerous and damaging fashion.

I would ask economics journalists to think twice before they mindlessly publish the next round of forecasts they get. Have a look back just a month ago to what the previously forecasts were, they are likely to be so way off that this round of forecasts won't be much better.