As @fandomsarefamily1966 asked about it, here's the story behind this picture:
"AND finally, at last, the story of Ross Halfin, the plate and the message 'Barton You Lose'. Remember the October 16 Sounds front cover? Well, the outrageously belated story behind it it as follows...
As you may know, Rush have a total phobia of cameras and do not allow pictures of themselves to be taken anywhere but onstage. Ross Halfin, however, was determined to hustle an offstage session, and this is how he did it...
Halfin being the persistent (and highly ingenious) bastard that he is, decided to accomplish this feat by telling Geddy the following pack of lies:
Halfin claimed that Sounds Editor Geoff Barton had bet him the princely sum of 50 pounds that he would be unable to snap any offstage pictures of Rush. Consequently Geddy, anxious to see Barton out of pocket, relaxed the 'no pix' rule for a moment and posed for around half a dozen photos, holding a plate emblazoned with the words 'Barton You Lose' (the bet, geddit?).
All this for a wager that never really existed. Halfin got his way, and no money ever exchanged hands. Didn't I say he was an ingenious bastard?"