andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Martha Stewart may have everything from fame and money to a multi-million dollar business empire, but what she doesn’t have is access to Britain.

According to E! News, the U.K. Border Agency reportedly denied Stewart’s visa and entry into Britain as a result of her insider-trading conviction four years ago.

“It is a bit silly given some of the other people allowed into the country,” an official told the “Daily Telegraph” paper, which was first to report the story.

Stewart was scheduled to speak as the Royal Academy and was booked to meet with several fashion and leader industry heavyweights.

According to gossip columnist Perez Hilton, Stewart released the following statement:

“Because I cannot yet go to England because of my visa situation, I am leaving Warsaw to go to Prague for a bit of sight-seeing, exploring, and research. We are hoping that the visa situation will be cleared up in time for me to fulfill my business obligations in England next week. We will keep you posted.”

Stewart spent five months in prison and five months of house arrest after being found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings on Dec. 27, 2001, as a result of her everything-must-go sale of ImClone stock.

Breaking the law got her behind bars but breaking the rules in jail got Martha Stewart her own nativity scene.

On Tuesday’s episode of the Stewart’s show, she displayed the entire set of figures that she made while imprisoned. While showing off the set, Stewart said, “Even though every inmate was only allowed to do one a month, and I was only there for five months, I begged because I said I was an expert potter ? ceramicist actually ? and could I please make the entire nativity scene.”

The prison allowed Stewart to fire and glaze each figure.

Martha Stewart’s home arrest sentence will be extended by three weeks.

Lawyers for Stewart confirmed on Wednesday, the lifestyle diva’s 64th birthday, that she agreed to extend her home confinement until August 31.

This comes after reports that Stewart often travelled to an upstate New York yoga centre and used unauthorized all-terrain vehicles on her property in Bedford, N.Y. She is supposed to stay inside for all but 48 hours a week.

The terms of Stewart’s home confinement only make allowances for work, church, medical visits and grocery shopping.

Though she was also ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, Stewart claimed she could easily remove it.

Despite the setback, Stewart’s company remains postitive.

“We will be so happy to have Martha working without restriction at the end of the month,” said Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia spokeswoman Elizabeth Estroff.

The debut of Stewart’s reality series, “The Apprentice: Marth Stewart” should remain unaffected. The show, one of more than half a dozen upcoming business projects for Stewart, debuts on NBC September 21.

The home arrest portion of Stewart’s sentence began on March 4, after she was released from incarceration in West Virginia after five months.

Lifestyle guru, Martha Stewart, is looking to fill up the studio of her new reality television series with more people named Martha Stewart. Stuart with a “u” will also suffice.

According to the Associated Press, producers of “Martha,” which airs Sept. 12, are hoping to pencil in about 150 Martha Stewarts for a special show.

Stewart, who soon turns 64, will also appear on a segmant of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” this fall.

Supposedly, her other daytime series, “Martha Stewart Living,” ended after her case went to court.

She is still serving a five month term at her home following the five months she spent in a West Virginia prison for lying about a stock sale.

An air date for the special show featuring all the Marthas hasn’t been reported yet.

While everyone knows Martha Stewart as the kitchen guru, her prison mates knew her as “M. Diddy”.

In the August issue of “Vanity Fair” Stewart talks about her prosecution, being under house arrest as well as her upcoming reality show.

She remains unapologetic about being convicted of lying about selling shares of ImClone Systems stock in 2001.

“You can?t be sorry about that ? let?s see, how can I say this? I?m on appeal. You can?t appeal if you think that you should be sorry,” she says.

Stewart is under house arrest for five months after serving her previous five months in a West Virginia federal prison. She?ll be finished next month.

“I hate lockdown. It’s hideous,” says Stewart, 63.

She also complains about the electronic monitoring device on her ankle which irritates her skin. But she says that she knows how to remove it.

“I watched them put it on. You can figure how to take it off. It’s on the Internet. I looked it up,” she says.

Though Stewart never said whether or not she has ever taken off the device, the article says that her publicist’s eyes widened with surprise.

Nevertheless she takes her house arrest very seriously. She called her probation officer to apologize for arriving home two minutes late after given permission to leave her home in New York.

But prison hasn’t hurt her career one bit with two television shows debuting in the fall season. One is a one hour daytime talk show entitled “Martha” and the other is her version of Donald Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice”.

While she won’t say “You?re Fired” to eliminate contestants, Stewart has her own version of the catchphrase.

“We’re trying to come up with other ways to see it. For instance, if someone is from Idaho I could say. ‘You’re back in Boise for apple-picking time’”.