And his willingness to talk about issues that other candidates are shying away from, like immigration and trade, reinforces the message that money makes him free.
Sim appeared to believe that personally sampling every chemical agent made him free to circumvent conventional standards; "I have to live with myself," he once said.
If his exile made him free, it meant that he also had lost his Irish audience and the group of talented actors who had played in his work at the Abbey.
At one point, Peter flies to Barcelona for a break; if German society has made him free enough, and solvent enough, for such a spree, what exactly is his beef?
A government employee with a security clearance, for instance, has a privilege-right that makes him free to read classified documents.
The former bad boy broke up with queen bee Donna in last week's episode, making him free to pursue his feelings for Carrie.
He makes her better; she makes him freer.
This made him freer in an America still navigating prejudice, and also helped him set the tone as the first of three brothers to pursue possibility in the United States.
He adds that the fact that he did not actually need the work, having his teachers' pension, made him freer to act than his colleagues, most of whom had dependent families and feared for their jobs.
At the moment, with Mr Bush's reliance on Britain as a last-ditch alibi in Iraq, the balance of power in the relationship has shifted in Mr Brown's favour, making him freer to cock the odd snook at Washington, as many Britons want him to, and perhaps also better placed to sway American policy.
