Thank you for remembering and loving John.”The rebranded airport is the first in Britain to be named after an individual – putting Lennon in an elite global club including John F Kennedy (New York), Leonardo da Vinci (Rome) and Charles de Gaulle (Paris).Liverpool’s new £32.5m second terminal, which is due to open next spring, will feature a 7ft 6in statue of Lennon as well as the new logo and a slogan taken from his lyrics – “above us only sky”.The Japanese artist has maintained rigorous control over the use of her husband’s image and music since he was murdered outside their home in New York in 1980.But her lawyers agreed to allow the airport’s owners, Peel Holdings, to use the cartoon and slogan, taken from the Imagine album, without the fee that such a transaction would normally entail.Ono, who flew in on a private jet before emerging in the terminal wearing a black suit and purple sunglasses, was once accused in the Beatles’ home city of speeding the band’s split in 1970.Shortly after their marriage and the subsequent break-up of the Beatles, the couple moved to America to concentrate on their solo careers, with some fans accusing Ono of unduly dominating her husband.But according to Beatles fans in Liverpool yesterday, any such feelings are now held by only the most dogmatic followers of John, Paul, George and Ringo.Jamie Ferguson, a manager at a Beatles memorabilia store in the city, said: “There are still one or two who grumble about Yoko splitting them up but I think most people recognise that wasn’t the case.”The band were going their own way by then anyway so it’s great that she should be back and give her blessing to the airport. It is right that whatever ill feelings there once were are long forgotten.”A spokeswoman for the Beatle Story museum in Liverpool added: “No one is really interested any more in the old story of who broke them up. She will be very welcome in the city.”Ono, who received an honorary doctorate from Liverpool University in recognition of financial support through a scholarship set up in 1991, appeared to go even further than the managers in her vision of the airport. She said: “As [John] said, there is no hell below us, above us only sky … I can see so many possibilities already – the Strawberry Fields Caf?a Give Peace A Chance Lounge.”Senior staff at the airport, which boasts of being Britain’s fastest growing, diplomatically said there were no formal plans for Lennon themed outlets but they would be considered.Neil Pakey, commercial director of Peel Holdings, said: “John Lennon was held in great affection in his home city. We want to build on that tribute by continuing to grow the airport that bears his name.”. Most of the ingredients for a long hot summer were assembled in Northern Ireland yesterday as next Sunday’s contentious loyalist parade at Drumcree was banned amid the continuing deadlock over paramilitary decommissioning.

Most of the ingredients for a long hot summer were assembled in Northern Ireland yesterday as next Sunday’s contentious loyalist parade at Drumcree was banned amid the continuing deadlock over paramilitary decommissioning.Three separate announcements set the scene: that the parade would not be allowed through a Catholic area, that Northern Ireland had lost its First Minister, and that the IRA had yet to say when and how it might put its weapons beyond use.Extra troops have already been drafted in to cope with the loyalist disruption which generally accompanies a ban on the Drumcree parade. Talks are due to begin in Belfast today under the chairmanship of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, John Reid.Meanwhile the Canadian general, John de Chastelain, delivering the latest report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, said he had held lengthy talks with a representative of the IRA.He said that while he believed the IRA was acting in good faith he had yet to hear from it which method it would use to render arms permanently inaccessible or unusable, and when such a process would begin. This particular de Chastelain report will be of limited or no tactical use to those taking part in the talks which are to be held this week, in that it offers little new ground on which to build.The Canadian general is not known as a naive person, but he has always tried to accentuate the positive in relation to the prospects of arms decommissioning. In this report he as usual implicitly makes it clear he does not regard his contacts with the IRA as time-wasting or futile, and looks forward to further talks. Mr Trimble said however that the report confirmed he had been absolutely right in resigning.He went on: “It’s absolutely clear from it that despite numerous meetings the republicans have said nothing, nothing at all to de Chastelain about what they are going to do, how they are going to do it and when they are going to do it.”While Tony Blair described the report as disappointing, Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern said it was “important to look at the positive and to build on the work that has already been done.”Mr Ahern said the Irish and British governments must continue to broker as much progress as possible. Mr Blair and Mr Ahern are due to join the talks in Belfast next week in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough by the end of the month.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams meanwhile reacted to the growing pressure on republicans to move on disarmament. Speaking in the assembly, he declared: “The most important point is that the current leaderships of the Ulster Unionist party and Democratic Unionist party are now prepared to live on the basis of equality with their nationalist neighbours. The threat to the peace process, where does it come from? From First Ministers, from loyalists who on a daily basis are using guns to shoot Catholics and are bombing their Catholic neighbours. It comes also from within the British system itself from those who want to go back to the old days.”. On 5 May 2000, the two governments said the remaining steps necessary to secure full implementation of the Agreement could be achieved by June 2001. Decommissioning of paramilitary arms was one of the remaining steps and we submit this report accordingly. Introduction1 On 5 May 2000, the two governments said the remaining steps necessary to secure full implementation of the Agreement could be achieved by June 2001.