Here we go again..

Every few years some serious consideration is given to a plan to simplify English spelling.  And the fact is that English spelling is a mess.  If you hear a word you've never heard before chances are you will not be sure how it is spelled, and equally if you see a word in print you've not come across before, it's quite probable that you will be unsure how it is pronounced.  And as for "ough" - three distinct ways to pronounce it - "ow" or "oh" as in bough or although, "off" or "uff" as in cough or enough, and "oo" as in through.  Problem is, as has been mentioned before, if you're going for a "spell as pronounced" system, whose pronunciation do you use?  Big differences between the way some words are pronounced down south and up north!