I just discovered why the site was taking so long to load. When backing up (for a potential move to MT) I had made the front page display 1000 posts (I was fiddling with templates to get htaccess redirects). I hadn’t changed it back to the usual 10 when I restored Wordpress. Like I say, oops 
It seems that, after their pricing change a couple of years back caused them to lose users (and the all-important third party developers), SixApart have finally seen the light and decided to release an open source version of Movable Type.
The MTOS press release doesn’t make it clear what form this will take: will it be a full version of MT, with the ‘commercial version’ having the same features but also a service contract for commercial ’service level guarantee’? Or will it be a cut-down rubbish version, with MTOS users basically acting as unpaid beta testers to increase SixApart’s commercial profits?
If the former, then this may very well resurrect MovableType. If the latter, it could be the final nail in a coffin which already closely resembles a porcupine.