Hi John,
With nico's patch, the linux-linaro-2.6.39 tree now seems to work with CONFIG_THUMB2_KERNEL in the general case.
I've tested this configuration on Versatile Express, and it seems to work. Do you want to have a go at turning this configuration on in the packaged kernel tree?
You will need:
CONFIG_THUMB2_KERNEL=y CONFIG_LATENCYTOP=n
Other options should get set to sensible defaults as a consequence.
Cheers ---Dave