[ronie]

I would like to set all of the movie lists to cover flow, but (for eg) when I open Mashup>New Releases/HD/3D it loads movie list cache every time (even though it says it will load instantly next time) and has reverted back to fan art display even though I left it in cover flow! Been through the skin settings and can't see anything that seems connected.

by default, T! will use the fanart view for everything.
when you switch to a different view, xbmc will remember that choice,
so the next time you enter that section, it'll use the view you've previously selected.

i'm not sure if this holds true for addons too..
what i do know is that there are a few addons out there that enforce a certain view on the user.
it's hardcoded in the addon and can't be overruled by either the skin or the user.

Next problem is shortcut icons. I like this skin because it's almost as easy as Confluence, but unlike Confluence, I can't seem to add shortcut icons to the home page. Is that just not possible?

nope, you can add item to the main/submenu's on the homescreen,
but you can't add them as icons like in confluence.