Should British/Australians adopt American spellings?

Ok, Firstly, Canada does not use 'British Spellings' they use a unique hybrid where by they use the American -ize and the Standard -our.

I agree with the World adopting the American -ize, if we spell 'size' in such a way then why not emphasize? Coherent & Consistant is the way Spelling should be. Also, We do not pronounce Centre in the French way, so surely Center makes more sense!

As for colour and neighbour, surely Colur & Neighbur make more sense than Color & Neighbor?

We need a universal english spelling, unfortunately America dominates and I'm sick of seeing things spelt incorrectly and being promped on my Phone & Computer about my error when I write 'Colour'

I prefer there to be differences in the spelling as it allows one to identify the origin of the author.

In US you can see theatre, cancelled, worshipped (along with the US spellings: theater, canceled, worshiped)

My web browser's underlines theatre, cancelled, worshipped meaning it's wrong spelling.

''Ok, Firstly, Canada does not use 'British Spellings' they use a unique hybrid where by they use the American -ize and the Standard -our. ''

-Our is preferred, but -or is allowed too. It's not that -or spellings have been banned, it's a personal choice. Some Canadian universities have an honor's degree, some have an
honour's degree. US spelling are more used in Western Canada (especially in Alberta).

So:

Canada, US: -ize
UK: -ise > -ize

UK:-our
Canada: -our > -or
US:-or

UK: -lled
Canada: -lled > -led
US: -lled = -led

UK: worshipped
Canada: worshipped
US: worshipped > worshiped

UK: theatre
Canada: theatre > theater
US: theatre = theater

(>more used than, = same frequency)

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Honors vs. Honours

Below is information pertaining to the reasoning behind the use of 'honors' as opposed to 'honours' in and on all documents issued by the University of Western Ontario.

From the Senate Minutes, May 26th, 1969:

The issue was brought forward as to Senate policy towards spelling of terms used to designate an area of study: Honors/Honours, Program/Programme. The Secretary of Senate stated that Senate Minutes since 1878 (founding year of UWO) had been consistent with the spelling of the two words, omitting the 'u' and the 'me'.
From the Senate Minutes, May 15th, 1997:
Throughout Western's history, Senate has approved only 'honors' degree programs, never 'honours' programs. Accordingly, the diplomas of graduates from honors programs have always reflected the 'honors' spelling.
In 1969, President D. Carlton Williams, decreed that spelling in University publications should be "Canadian/North American". Funk and Wagnall's Standard College Dictionary, Canadian Edition, was cited as the spelling authority.
The Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Mr. David Estok, was asked to comment on the "Canadian style". He reported that "the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE), in its recently published English Language Style Guide (1996), calls for the -or ending. Canadian Press, both in its style guide and in (CP) Caps and Spelling follows the same practice." The Committee is aware of a number of other style guides on the issue of "correct spelling" of words ending in -our, and does not find uniformity. Based on these and the following sources, it is not accurate to say that the -our spelling is the Canadian Spelling.
The Introduction to the Gage Canadian Dictionary (1997) (p. vii) states:
Canadian usage is almost equally divided between -our and -or spellings in words such as colour/color and honour/honor, so both spellings are accepted by this Canadian dictionary as standard Canadian spelling.
Prof. Paul Gaudet (Chair, English Department)
If we want 'the Canadian way', we are not unequivocally talking about the British way. The 'Canadian way' is to participate in, and circulate through, two cultures and two linguistic practices. Further, as a footnote I want to add that the Journal of English Studies in Canada, which is the academic journal of the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, does not mandate the British spelling. Based on a quick survey this morning, I would say that the majority of articles in that academic journal, both scholarly and reviews, use the -or spelling.
Secretary of Senate
In the western provinces, you see the 'or' orthography. The University of Alberta uses the 'ors' spelling in their degrees.

The question of staying with the 'honors' spelling was called and carried on a vote of 32 in favor and 25 against.

http://www.convocation.uwo.ca/geninfo.htm

I found a brief summary of the major spelling differences between American and British English here: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/differences.htm

There are more than I thought. And as a Canadian, it's interesting to see how I pick and choose between the two versions. With the exception of the -ze vs. -se and -dg vs. -dge categories, and a few of the weakened past participles, it seems like I've always preferred the British spellings. This is consistent with what Kate wrote above.

I had no idea that Americans use check, pajama and plow instead of cheque, pyjama and plough. Pajama? Sorry, that makes me laugh! And I thought that draft and draught were two different words...oops. I use them separately.

I have a question. Is the spelling "thru" for through becoming standard in the US? I see it more and more on American news, for example. Despite being more phonetic, it looks like a worryingly mindless simplification.

No, through is still the standard spelling.

Draught always confused me as a child, because I didn't know how to pronounce it -- I would mentally rhyme it with "caught" when I saw it in print. Draft serves all my purposes, fromt a draft horse to draft beer to a draft under the door and being drafted into the army. I've never made any distinction between draft and draught since I learned they were just variant spellings of the same thing.