[ruuk]

Are there any relevant library versions, like python related for instance, that may help elucidate why I'm having so many issues?

Well, it looks like you're running Python 2.7, which is what I have running. Other than that I don't know. There's no errors in the log which makes it seem that XBMC thinks everything is working fine. It also means I have nothing to go on. I can confirm that the list of posts is empty (as opposed to not visible) because the log shows that It can't focus on the list control, which would tend to mean it's empty.

Why don't we wait and see if the next beta changes anything? If not, I can send you a testing version that logs at different points in the code that displays the posts. Then we could at least see at what point it is failing.

I've had quite a few issues with many of the non-official repos, and plugins, I've tried.

That may or may not mean anything. I've had issues with non-official repos/plugins in the past. They are not screened like they are in the official repo.