Come on Dave! He said in the thread it wasn't frozen now, just that it was sat still during the last winter and now it's fooked. He's wondering if that could have caused the problems he's experiencing now.
I'd say give it a damn good bleed, check that the lever isn't bottoming out before the pads have a chance to lock the rim. You also mentioned that the whole "cylinder thing was moving", did you mean the master cylinder in the lever was moving? In what way is it moving?