Bedfordshire town without capital, liable to collapse (8)
I believe the answer is:
unstable
'liable to collapse' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'bedfordshire town without capital' is the wordplay.
'bedfordshire town' becomes 'dunstable' (I've seen this before).
'without capital' means to remove the first letter.
'dunstable' with its first letter taken away is 'UNSTABLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for unstable that I've seen before include "Volatile, precarious" , "Not well-balanced, liable to wobble" , "Moody" , "Rickety" , "lacking security" .)