About No Holds Barred Pod

About Us

No Holds Barred Pod is a weekly UK politics podcast for people who are tired of being spun. Hosted by Sal Dodgson and Don McGowan, we cut through the noise, challenge the narrative, and talk about what’s actually going on — without fear or favour.

We’re not left. We’re not right. We’re just honest.

Since launching, we’ve been recognised by Spotify as a 2025 Instant Hit Show, a 2025 Talked About Show, and a 2025 Marathon Show — placing us in the top 6% of all new podcasts in our debut season. We also run a Discussions series featuring in-depth conversations with expert guests across politics, journalism, and public life.

You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts — or watch full video episodes on YouTube.

MEET YOUR HOSTS

Sal DODGSON

Sally is a 'woman of a certain age', mother to an adolescent, slave to several cats [who all hate each other] and a recently bereft dog lover. She is, after a lifetime of chronic illness, now invisibly disabled and spends much of her time online campaigning for underdog issues, predominately poverty and disability rights [to be treated as human by the government].

 

After checking out of school prematurely, Sally left school with very little and mastered a few careers as a Vet Nursing, Croupier and Executive PA's. Eventually landing a thankfully short-lived experience at the Spectator magazine. Sally was also the first female professional Rugby Union manager in the country. These days she has far less capacity and energy, so puts her efforts into self-improvement, education and understanding. Sally is a humanistic and nature focused campaigner with interests in sociology, psychology, epigenetics, neurology and geopolitics.

Contact

@dodgson_sally
Signal: Badassmutha.28

Don McGowan

Don is a freelance journalist and writer — nowadays.

 

After a two decade long span of graphic and web design for small businesses, Ai has ended his tenure in that field. A lifetime of hobbyist writing has now been forcibly turned into a flourishing career. Don has been highly successful in his political investigations and writes articles, both on Substack and on 𝕏. He has also been published multiple times, by Byline Times and West England Bylines in the last year.

 

The highlight being a story broken about Nigel Farage 'fixing' a competition for his friends to win. Don broke the story, and it was even featured in Have I Got News For You.

 

As a freelance writer, he is always on the lookout for work, so if you would like something written, get hold of him. Details below.

Contact

@donmcgowan
donmcgowan@pm.me
Signal: donmcgowan.333