Finally got around to setting up a blog using movabletype on a Linux hosting service.
Decided on movabletype because it is relatively open, it is done in Perl (with which I am familiar) and it also sits on top of a database. The real clincher was the user interface and the way that it handles mulitple weblogs and authors.
For the hosting services, I settled on mtvhosting to do the hosting as they offer great facilities at a reasonable price.