Now then, it appears as though my gearstick has had "issues" in the past :)
After talking to a LR spares chappy, who was reasonably clueless, I got a printout of the "bits down there" and decided to have a quick look.
I pulled the gaitor right up and found - there is a pinch-bolt joint near the bottom which is not tight. Also, according to the drawing, there should be an upper part of the gearstick which is fixed on by what looks like a small screw/bolt - that join has had a very bad weld job which also is loose :roll:
So, I'll try tightening up the joint and re-welding the other bit... :)