It took some searching but I found the solution.
If you search for libglib you will find more than one version, the 'other' version comes from a manually installed program and is no longer needed, just delete it. In my case, the installed version is /lib/libglib-2.0.so.0.2400.2 and the alternative version was /usr/local/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0.1400.2 Once I deleted the 1400 version (and any links) then shared-mime-info installed fine, along with the other programs that were waiting for it. See also http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/shared-mime-info/+bug/591743 which is where I got the first clue. Hope this helps someone, Tony
