OK, in act 2 on Iorveth's path if you active your witcher emblem in Philippa's bed room, several items shimmer red. One is her bed side table between the bed and wardrobe, problem is you can't get to the table to see whats in there??????

I am not all that certain I would classify it as a bug, though. I am sorry to sound disagreeable, but it seems that in many cases, the object that glows is a replica of another object that serves as a container in other parts of the chapter.

For instance, in Chapter one, in Morena's quest, that cave holds several bags that can be looted for ores. It seems that all the bags will glow, even though not all will be holding an item. I think this is the case for that nightstand.
Many doors in the game do this as well.

I think it may be a case of computer language being yes / no -- on /off and not all that easy to do "not in this case". Gee , was that at all clear what I meant?

Hm... according to Wiki, there should be a Poisoned Zerrikanian saberra in her room. I didn't find one, but a sorceress like Philippa might have such a thing in her bedside table. ;)
Anyone find a sword in the room?

Yes, near the fireplace

There are many places in the game where the layout of clutter in the cell blocks the player from access to containers. Since there is no cursor, the character needs to be within a certain distance to be able to activate the container.

If I hit medalion and something glows, yet I can't loot it, I have to wonder why it's glowing at that point and time.

Fisstech, some bloodstains, spilt oil etc. also glow :)

This is exactly it. In the Prologue alone, if you bother plundering all the houses before infiltrating the monastery, there are plenty of loot containers that shine up, but due to the positioning of various obstacles and what, you can't reach them. As far as I can tell, all of these just contain 'random' loot anyway, so it's not like we're missing out on something important.

As for the Poisoned Zerrikanian Saberra, it hangs above her fireplace, but only at the very end of Chapter 2, and only if you went with Iorveth in Chapter 1.

There are several loot spots you can't get to easily, or at all. There are at least 3 that are blocked by bedrolls or beds. There were a couple of sacks that couldn't be looted because they were under signs on the wall, and you could only get the choice to examine the poster, rather than loot the bags.

There were a couple that were difficult that I was able to get to by toggling off run and switching to walk mode. This let me move more slowly and hit the exact spot to get the loot icon on the screen.

I was never able to get to the one in Philippa's quarter, no matter how I tried it.

Aye, as Shagspear once said, "All that shimmers is not lootable"

Aha, that explains it. I saw the sword in the inventory of the MM, but despite all my "bending the rules", I would feel cheap, if I bought stuff from him. So I looked it up. But at the end of the Chapter? Thanks, but there's a lot better loot until then. Would have been a nice sword to start out with in Vergen.

Yes, it's a nice sword - at least for cosmetic purposes - but since you get it at the very end of the chapter, it is quickly rendered useless. Not only do you already have stronger steel swords by then, but five minutes into Chapter 3 and you'll have something much better anyway. There's definitely problems with itemization in the game... :(

it's just an object that uses the glow parameter. if you can't loot it, it's not lootable. and it isn't meant to be lootable. move on and stop crying.