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In some ways similar. The balance within the left seems very different. What I would broadly categorize as the majority view on some issues, amongst the active left here, seem to be the minority view amongst the active left there. I think, for example, that relationship between the left and unions is somewhat different, because the history of unions and the left is a different one. Like any other country, the way our labour movement grew and progressed has unique elements. The fact that Labour Party (the current ruling party in the UK) was specifically formed by Trades Unionists for the furtherance of the labour movement's goals. In the early years of the Labour Party, members were members via their unions, not as individuals.
I don't think Marx is viewed in quite the same way over here generally, as seems to be over there, and I don't think the word socialist/socialism carry the same connotations and are in somewhat easier currency over here. There are a lot of basic assumptions about what government is and what it does which pervade society and that has an effect on the component parts of the political spectrum. Over here even the 'centre right' accept the need for some kind of socialized medicine, for instance.
That said, as I was trying to get across in my post about the blog, the different groups within that spectrum are also not uniform in their views. When I refer to the left I refer to those who a) identify themselves as left, and b) share some of a set of basic understandings/assumptions of the world and a set of hopes/goals for the world.
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