has anyone else had recurring brakelight failure in their EF ?
mine have just died for the third time in just over 18 months. any ideas?

I'd think most users may experience this issue at least once during their car's life, and as most will know, the brake light switch is generally the culprit - very common fault.
I've had it happen on both my cars, and I've found a fix that seems to work long term, apart from replacing the switch, is to remove the switch and, with a pair of pointy nose pliers, carefully bend the ends of the spring loaded metal leaf (this leaf faces the brake booster plunger when the switch is fitted). Bend the ends toward the direction of the brake booster plunger - you may need to fit/remove the switch to test and adjust - you only need to bend them slightly, you're trying to make a better contact between the booster plunger and this leaf, as the switch makes as soon as the brake pedal moves, and the freeplay between the booster plunger and the brake pedal is taken up (brake lights should already be on by this stage).
I think that the leaf wears because it rubs against the brake booster plunger, and over time, needs bending to keep the proper contact, possibly it may bend backwards over time, although it seems quite thick though.

This may not be making much sense, but once you have the switch off, you'll understand what I'm getting at here hopefully . . . .
Due to the design of this setup, I don't think there is much else you can do.

At $8 for one at Repco, it isn't much of a problem and they are expected to last up till about 150,000kms.

Pretty funny as the switch on my EF went at nearly exactly 150,000 kms